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This was an interesting exercise, but it was difficult to narrow down the players currently aged 23 and under to fewer than 26 and eventually the best 22.
How much can we predict this year’s final AFL ladder from last year’s? How much can we expect to glean from a mid-season ladder?
We’ll dive into both questions over the next two weeks; this article will address the first question, and next week we’ll look at the 11-game ladder to discern what the final standings might look like. Which, after all, is what most of us spend our time on this site doing – predicting what’s going to happen.
So, let’s look at the data from the last 25 years of the AFL, when eight teams made finals:
It’s not hard to guess what the general pattern’s going to look like – the higher you place one year, the more likely it is that you’ll make finals next year, right?
Chance of making finals based on previous year’s position (1994-2018)
|Place||Likelihood of making following finals||2018 team|
Yeah, that’s what I would’ve thought, too. That’s what statisticians deal with all the time, when there’s a sparsity of data points – the actual probability is altered too much by random chance.
You’ve probably heard the old saw about how if you flip a coin ten times, you could get nine heads and a tail or vice versa, but if you flip it ten million times, there’s no likelihood of a nine million to one million split because the sheer numbers will make it balance much closer to the actual probability of 50/50 – in this case, five million heads to five million tails.
But when you group placements to try and reduce the curse of sparse data, there are results that seem pretty clear – if you’re anywhere from about fifth through even 14th places, statistically you’ve got about a 50-50 shot at finals the next season.
Why is that? Probably (and the anecdotal analysis of these years bears this out) it boils down to there generally being around four really solid teams each year, and they’re more likely to be good enough the next year to stay at least top eight.
But in most years – and this is what we were all predicting for 2019, remember – there’s the vast middle-of-the-pack pool of teams that are more or less interchangeable, and between seasons shifting from fifth to 12th or 13th to sixth is as easy as one free agent moving from team fifth to team thirteenth.
Down in that bottom few slots, though, it generally takes more than one off-season to sufficiently right the ship enough to reach finals.
A quick note: even recent fans may notice a flaw in the data. In 2016, Essendon was without approximately half their roster due to WADA punishments, and because of that finished last. They qualified for finals the following year, but with a completely different team than in 2016. We’ve chosen not to count this in our numbers with the hope and assumption that those conditions never repeat. With that exception, no team from 17th or 18th place has ever moved straight into finals the following year.
But is it really that simple? Are there three big chunks, and that’s all there is to gather from the data? Let’s dig deeper – with one slight adjustment.
Instead of going by placements, let’s consider how far a team is from the ‘cut line’ – the line which currently sits between eighth and ninth places, where the lower-placed teams are cut from continuing with their season after August. So both eighth and ninth places are 0.5 places away from this line: eighth place is at +0.5, and 9th place at -0.5.
The reason for doing this is that when there were only five or six teams making finals, it’s a completely different thing to talk about the chances of a team in, for example, eighth place making it the next year. In 2018, they’re working from a position already inside the bubble, whereas back in the 1970s and 1980s, they were three spots out of a finals berth and had to pass other teams to get into September action.
So, in the brief era of six finalists (1991-1993), being in first place only puts a team +5.5 places above the cut line, while that eighth-placed team is now at -1.5, below the cut line between sixth and seventh. The two decades from 1972-1990 had only five teams making finals, and the era before that contains six decades of just the top four teams moving onto play in September.
Up to speed now? Great – here’s what all that data looks like:
|Current place||Places from cut line||Rate of making following finals||‘Smoothed out’ probability trendline||Four-team finals (1908-1971)||5-6-team finals (1972-1993)||Eight-team finals (1994-2018)|
The data only goes back to 1908 because before that, for the most part, all eight teams went into a finals round-robin plaything, so the comparison’s not very apt.
The first set of percentages combines all the numbers for placements the same distance above or below the cut line for the relevant years. It’s not perfect, but you’ll notice that the data’s smoothing out quite a bit with the addition of another eight and a half decades of teams to consider. (As there were only three years with exactly six finalists, those were folded into the previous five-team years for ease of reading.)
The most fascinating piece of information from the overall percentage column is that despite over one hundred years of placements to consider, there’s still an apparent advantage to being two slots below finals (currently tenth place) than in either of the spots above that.
In fact, no matter the era, no matter the format, -1.5 is always more likely to make finals the next season than the +0.5 team that was already in finals is to stay there.
There’s also a bubble at what’s currently 14th place, -5.5 to the cut line, that continues on back into the five-team finals (when it was 11th place, usually out of 12), which still stands out in the final numbers despite that not being significant in the previous decades of four-team finals (when it was tenth out of 12).
Why are those bubbles there? If we had another hundred years of data, would they go away or intensify?
To be honest, I don’t know. With the two years of the 13th place team making the grand final the following season (Richmond and Collingwood), we noticed the scheduling fell in groups of six and the 13th place team had a much easier go of it than the teams immediately above, but I can’t find any such indwelt advantage to either tenth or 14th places.
Maybe it’s just coincidence; maybe it’s that those are positions that tend to fall to teams on their way up.
But the trendline calculates where this data is heading given a ‘fair system’, meaning no internal advantages that we can’t see from the input we have. Under that ‘purer’ probability for last year’s teams, here’s what our 18 AFL teams should have objectively faced moving into the 2019 season:
Richmond (1st place after home/away last year) – 89.3% chance of making finals in 2019.
West Coast (2nd place) – 81.9%.
Collingwood (3rd place) – 75.4%
Hawthorn (4th place) – 69.6%
Melbourne (5th place) – 64.2%
Sydney (6th place) – 59.3%
GWS Giants (7th place) – 54.7%
Geelong (8th place) – 50.3%
North Melbourne (9th) – 46.0%
Port Adelaide (10th) – 40.9%
Essendon (11th) – 37.0%
Adelaide (12th) – 32.1%
Western Bulldogs (13th) – 26.8%
Fremantle (14th) – 20.9%
Brisbane (15th) – 14.4%
St. Kilda (16th) – 7.1%
Gold Coast (17th) and Carlton (18th) – 0.0%
How accurate is that? Well, both in March and right now, we’d look at the first three teams and agree they’ll repeat as finalists. Hawthorn are still a question mark, then and now, but at about a 2/3 chance the odds more than allow for that.
The same goes for Melbourne and Sydney – even though both are fighting through seasons that almost already preclude playing finals in 2019, the chances were just above a coin flip that they would in the first place, while the other side of the coin will put Geelong into September.
As for the remainder of the league, the interesting chance is whether or not 14 per cent Brisbane will make finals from 15th. Here’s another way of looking at that – in the 25 years of the eight-team finals bracket, there have been 18 seasons (72%) in which a team from 13th or lower has made finals the next year – and in 15 of those (60%), it was exactly one such team, which is what it’s once again looking like will happen.
So the laws of probability continue to hold true, but more broadly than most people often think they do.
Next week, we’ll examine what the halfway-through-the-season ladder has in common with the final ladder, and if that correlation is any stronger than the one we just looked at today. And then we’ll combine the two to see if we can’t suss out the most likely finals bracket.
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"Da Lat - a little place in the mountains" Da Lat by Martialsk
Da Lat Travel Guide: 252 reviews and 807 photos
This was our next stop after Mui Ne and it was unfortunate that the transfer was via the nastiest, dirtiest & smelliest bus we'd ever had the pleasure of travelling in! We sweltered through the 5+ hours from Mui Ne to Da Lat, 1,500m up in the Central Highlands. Not only did this mangy bus already have so much going for it, it also just about didn’t get us up the mountains at all! Sheer boredom and a sore bottom from the narrow seats, I can safely say that I was officially done with buses in Vietnam.
On the upside, the scenery on the slowest drive in the world was breath-taking.
We arrived in the dark, the drop in temperature initially a shock to the system after the balmy sea-side sunshine and warm breezes, but thankfully the bus did drop us off right by our hotel up on a hill overlooking the city so it was not far to go. A nice place, clean and huge but with awful internet connection! We hadn’t been very fortunate with internet connection at all these last few days so this was annoying!
The breakfast was an experience all on it’s own - a giant bread roll and 2 bananas…that was called ‘banana bread’ on the menu…! And Lipton Tea…served in a glass with condensed milk...took some getting used to!
Our little party started as 3, and before long we were 6! One of our new friends we'd met at Mui Ne decided at the last minute to follow us to Da Lat and at the same time, 2 old friends from New Zealand also turned up from Nha Trang! Happy days - some quality time spent with new and old friends!!
There isn’t much in Da Lat itself really. It has a hefty French (& Swiss) influence which is notable through some of the buildings, street layouts and along some of the residential streets that we wandered around. As a result, in parts it is quite an attractive little town although somewhat overloaded with its own self-importance - which reminded me a little of Saigon. It is only a little town but it had a curiously unique atmosphere all of its own possibly derived from the mix of people resident here. There are multiple indigenous communities in the mountain areas - some of which have quite different physical attributes to the Vietnamese that we’d got used to recognising - and Da Lat, being the biggest town in the area, has easily accommodated all of them. This small place hosts several ethnicities and minorities all with their own unique traditions, quirks and specialities.
It was a likeable little place complete with an expressionist ’Crazy House’, an unconventional guesthouse designed by Vietnamese architect Dang Viet Nga, with his inspiration taken from Antoni Gaudi. Described as a “fairy-tale house”, its overall design resembles a giant banyan tree, incorporating sculptured design elements representing natural forms such as animals, mushrooms, spider webs and caves. It is a bizarre place!
The town also featured a typical Vietnamese market, bustling with people and all their paraphernalia which made for pleasant aimless wandering.
The main attraction of this mountain town is the ability to hire motorbikes/ mopeds and go for a spin around the countryside.
Our hotel arranged some bikes for us and the hotelier (who is half Vietnamese, half hill-tribe) took us out for a round trip covering 120km to see some of the local sights. First stop, a wander through a local market where he talked us through some of the items for sale - fruit and veg that we‘ve never seen before, random household stuff, puppies for food, chickens, bull-eyes and livers…just the usual really. I still marvel at how these people eat everything and waste nothing. We could take a few lessons from them…Even seeing little puppies waiting in their tiny cages for what would be certain death didn’t have any shock factor for me. This is reality and people need to eat. I've seen wanton waste of food in wealthy places and it never ceases to sicken me as wasted food was an alien concept where I grew up.
Next stop, a cricket farm where we sampled fried crickets. An interesting, if somewhat dull-tasting insect, I found our African flying ants that would swarm out during the rains a far tastier delicacy. Interestingly, I ate flying ants as a child…I don’t know if I could do that now! I seem to recall adults recoiling at the idea of eating them whilst us kids would scramble around like mad catching them and scoffing them down within seconds!!
Afterwards, we stopped by a silk farm, where we didn’t sample silk worms thankfully, because I most certainly draw the line at eating worms, but instead watched the ladies tend the battered old looms spinning the silk thread out of the cocoons in an old and dusty working environment. Watching them, all the while gasping for air in that gloomy, dusty warehouse, knowing that we’ve always had Old Man Health & Safety to ensure our own environments were suitably ergonomic, I marvelled at them and their skills! Resilient, hard, durable people they just get on with it.
From there we dropped by a huge waterfall complete with its own little rainforest through which we treacherously walked/ climbed to get closer to the water (and even behind it). Beautifully muddy, slippery and damp, this place cared not for our comfort.
A long drive over the farm roads, whizzing past numerous rice paddies and coffee farms, the roads would take us to our Hotelier’s traditional rural home somewhere in the foothills of the mountains. Coffee farming and subsequent supply to the West is a huge industry in Vietnam - second only to Brazil at approx 15% of the world share in coffee production. The difference here is that there are numerous little privately-owned (alongside the bigger state-owned farms), mostly family run farms, rather than the huge, often corporate-controlled plantations of Brazil. The industry is second only to rice production in Vietnam, but the process is more haphazard and the quality of the beans questionable at times, causing occasional issues on the export market. It is big money for the little guy though and anyone who can, will plant coffee trees wherever he can and driving along, we would see trees everywhere and coffee beans laid out outside people’s homes to be sun-dried before being bagged up and taken to the depot.
Coffee is money and security for the family. In this area and according to tradition, the youngest son inherits the coffee plantation from the parents. The youngest son also bears the responsibility of the family home and his ageing parents.
Out in the countryside, mopeds are fine. However, it was a relatively hair-raising trip through the rush hour traffic on the open roads on the way home later in the day. Vietnamese drivers have no care for bikes/mopeds/bicycles. They do not hesitate to just pull out in front of oncoming bikes or cut you up on a road, or swerve into you...many didn't have working lights either...it was insane and my heart spent much time in my mouth during that trip...!
Before lunch, we spent about hour in the front ‘living room’ of a local hill tribe family. Basically, a rustic mud-floored tin shack similar to that which would be found in Sub-Saharan Africa, we all crammed in and sat ourselves down on the tiniest seats imaginable to a western-sized rear-end! Here we met the ladies, the 3 matriarchs of this family and set about introducing ourselves and learning about alternative ways of living. An interesting and somewhat humbling experience except for a moment of hilarity when we were told that the sound of my name in their language sounded like the word ’Eat’ and my boyfriend's name apparently sounded like ’Ladybits’…! Put the 2 together and what do we get?? hehehe!
An hour later and we learnt a few things! This is a matriarchal society where women own their men through marriage, the price carefully calculated and bartered depending on a man’s worth as a worker, in health, family place in society and reputation. A price paid in very valuable water-buffalo and in arrangements not dissimilar to the African Lobola process where the currency is always cattle. Poverty (lack of water-buffalo) would mean daughters would either never marry or would be expected to share husbands. Children out of wed-lock is a major no-no and participants to this naughty deed would be ostracised from the community. Once married, usually at a very young age, the babies would come - as many as possible because they are not certain to all survive in a place riddled with malaria and dengue fever, malnutrition and other childhood illnesses and diseases. Child-birth is taken care of at home by the women, not in hospitals with doctors.
So, I sat in this tiny shack with my mouth hanging open because just there across from me sat 2 wizened old crones and a woman my age. They had had the hardest life imaginable, shown on their lined faces and tired, slightly stooped bodies. Having had around as many as 10 children each, some lost at young age to disease, they were hardened by each day being a struggle to survive, hard work in a harsh environment. Resilient to the max. Powerful and inspiring. I was awed. If I could be half the woman that these ladies were, well…wouldn’t that be something?
Interestingly, matriarchal societies are still quite rare. In many tribes, patriarchal societies are far more common and women are ‘traded’ the same way as the men mentioned above. The institution of marriage is very much alive and kicking and ‘love’ rarely has anything to do with it.
The government is said to be educating the hill-tribes about their archaic traditions when it comes to marriage amongst the young, but it looks to me to be falling on deaf ears or possibly that the kids have little chance of breaking age-old family traditions without causing big family eruptions. The farms that these hill-tribes work to earn their livelihoods need extra hands, and marriage brings in that extra support that the families wouldn’t otherwise be able to pay for. It is a necessity and no amount of government interference is going to change this cycle of events quickly. It is a way of life.
Before we left, we bought some hand woven cloth which we thought was quite beautiful as a little something to take home as a memento of a rare day in the travel diary.
After scoffing a delicious a vegetarian rice noodle lunch back at the farmhouse, cooked for us by our guide’s sister, we spent almost an hour sampling a huge variety of Vietnamese fruits and discussing family traditions, weddings, language and other random subjects. Our education before home-time.
- Pros:Stunning location, laidback, educational
- Cons:Getting there, touristy in parts
- In a nutshell:Worth the detour to get there just to do the bike trip
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The Cross & the Pen: When I Lay My Isaac Down
- Eva Marie Everson Contributing Writer
- 2004 8 Oct
Welcome to "The Cross & the Pen," Crosswalk.com's author-to-author interview column!
I have a saying and it goes like this: When I grow up, I want to be Carol Kent.
Not that I want Carol's family or ministry or exquisite beauty, but rather that I want to be a woman who, like Carol, is a woman of God who wears grace and wisdom like a lace scarf draped about her strong shoulders.
Carol's beauty goes beyond a smile that can melt a bad mood in a skinny minute or eyes that twinkle with some hidden mischief. Her beauty begins at the very core of her being; that part of her which begins and ends with God. And that's what I want people to see in me.
Recently, Carol and I got together to talk about her new book When I Lay My Isaac Down (NavPress 2004), a work I believe every Christian whose faith has ever been shaken or will ever be shaken should read. As David Jeremiah (founder of Turning Point Ministries) stated, "[This] is a book about the worst pain that a parent could ever experience and the grace of God that sustains us when that pain never goes away. Carol Kent has laid open her broken heart and proven that triumph can exist in tragedy. This brook will break your heart as it strengthens your faith."
Wanna listen in?
Eva Marie: Carol, let's talk a minute before we get into your book. Would you tell my readers a little bit about you, your family and your ministry?
Carol: I'm the oldest of six who observed our father leave a good paying job in the business world to go back to Bible school and accept God's call on his life to go into the ministry. He led Gene (the man who eventually became my husband) to the Lord when he was 17 years old. We both left for different universities after graduating from high school, and two months after we earned our undergraduate degrees, we walked down the aisle and my preacher daddy "tied the knot." We were dirt poor, had education debts to pay off...but we had lots of love!
I eventually became a speech, drama and English teacher in a public school setting and had many opportunities to influence my students with biblical truth. Gene went into the insurance business and we were youth directors in a local church.
Five years after our marriage, I gave birth to our first and only child, Jason Paul Kent. I took a leave from teaching and found myself in a neighborhood where many women were raising young children and had many challenges in their marriages. I started my first Bible study around my kitchen table with five neighborhood women and I taught them biblical principles on marriage.
That Bible study spawned a progression that led to where I am today. In time, I noticed many of the women in my Bible class had a story to tell (their personal testimony), but they didn't know how to structure it so it could be shared with others. Some loved the Bible, but didn't know how to teach it. My background includes an undergraduate degree in Speech Education and a master's degree in Communication Arts, so I took what I knew about teaching speech and what I knew about the Bible and launched the Speak Up With Confidence seminar that is now held in many cities across the country and in a few selected cities abroad.
An editor came to one of those seminars and told me she thought this seminar had book potential and asked me to submit a proposal. It was accepted and my first book was Speak Up With Confidence (first published by Thomas Nelson, now published by NavPress).
God was opening many doors for me as a retreat and conference speaker and my research to prepare for those speaking engagements, along with my quiet time with the Lord produced the material for many more books: Secret Longings of the Heart, Tame Your Fears, Becoming a Woman of Influence, Mothers Have Angel Wings, Detours, Tow Trucks, and Angels in Disguise, the six book Designed for Influence Bible studies series (co-authored with Karen Lee-Thorp), and my most recent book, When I Lay My Isaac Down.
Eva Marie: You mention When I Lay My Isaac Down, as being your last book. Of course I know the story of how this came about...it's a story of heartache and of learning to believe God's word no matter what. You liken the story of your only son, Jason Paul, to that of Abraham's son, his "only son," as God referred to him. Can you share (briefly) the events that led to writing what had to have been the most difficult words of your life?
Carol: Our only child, Jason, is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and he was a joy to raise. He married a previously married young woman in 1998 who had two beautiful little girls. There were allegations of abuse regarding the biological father of Jason's stepdaughters and the father was seeking unsupervised visits with the girls. As legal options ran out, we saw a downward spiral in our son's emotional well being as his fears for the safety of the girls grew.
In the early hours of October 25, 1999, we received a phone call telling us our son had been arrested for the murder of his wife's first husband. The shock, emotional devastation, and the reality of Jason's arrest was hard to comprehend. We went through two and a half years and seven postponements of the trial.
Eva Marie: How did you come out of your grief and to the decision to write the book?
Carol: As we continued to travel this unexpected path, we realized Abraham was asked to lay his Isaac down. It came to me that all of us have "Isaacs"- and God asks us to make a heart sacrifice - relinquishing our control over a person, situation, or event to the God who loves us more than we love our Isaac. An "Isaac" can be a struggle with infertility, giving birth to a child with a disability, an accident that results in a major life-change, a financial reversal - something thrust upon us at an unexpected moment.
There are also "Isaacs" we choose - letting go of personal expectations, surrendering my ideal life for the reality of what I have, forgiving a person who betrayed my trust, or embracing God's love when He doesn't rescue my hurting child.
I wrote this book because "pain is pain is pain is pain." My husband Gene and I are continuing to live through a great tragedy, but I want readers to learn how to choose "heart sacrifices" where they embrace God's love in the process of releasing their control over the end result of their dreams for themselves or for someone else and I want to encourage them to tell their own stories instead of hiding in false shame and guilt.
Eva Marie: Carol, what has happened because of your willingness to open your personal wounds for the world to see and write this book?
Carol: I'm discovering that broken people minister to broken people. I'm not ashamed of my tears anymore and I weep with those who weep.
And people are finding the courage to start telling their own stories. In February I was in Oregon speaking and I shared our story at a women's conference. A woman approached me at the book table and whispered, "My husband's been incarcerated for the past 18 years and nobody knows." She paused. "He's getting out in one month." She told me they were going to try to make a "go" of their marriage again. Then she stood to her highest height and with confidence said, "Today, you've given me the courage to start telling my own story. I'm going to quit hiding in my shame any longer."
As we share how our "stretcher bearers" came alongside with prayer and with tangible help during our time of crisis, other people have come up with creative ideas for showing "hands-on" compassion to friends within their sphere of influence who are in need.
We have launched a nonprofit organization called Speak Up for Hope and we are assisting churches and organizations in adopting the prison closest to their location. We don't want to duplicate what other prison ministries have already done successfully, but we are providing encouragement baskets for families of inmates and we are linking educators with chaplains and wardens to provide GED classes and Christian education within the prison walls.
Eva Marie: Your title includes the tagline: Unshakable faith in unthinkable circumstances. Carol, I believe many of us WANT unshakable faith, but would never desire the unthinkable circumstances, which - of course - builds faith. And I believe Abraham's faith which sustained him when God told him to lay Isaac down came about by the years and years (and years) of trusting God for a son, years and years (and years) of trusting God while walking about, trying to "find a home." How would you respond to someone who says, "I want the faith...but not the circumstances?"
Carol: When a Christian is faced with a crisis so big that the rest of his/her life is forever altered, a choice must be made. We either affirm or reject our faith. We come to a place of saying, "God is sovereign; He makes no mistakes; He is good and trustworthy," or we turn our backs on Him, because on the surface, what He has allowed seems unfair and at times, cruel.
Abraham had "history" with God. He trusted Him so much that even if Isaac died on that altar, He believed God could bring him back to life. In obedience, he "laid his Isaac down." In the original language of the Bible the term for "laying down" as used in the Genesis 22 passage means "a lifting up." It was an act of worship for Abraham to lay Isaac on the altar.
My personal history with God includes the belief that a better day is coming - that this life is not all there is. If I focus on that truth, then I know whether my son walks in freedom in this lifetime or in the next, one day he will indeed walk in freedom. For this season of his life, he is in prison ministry with maximum-security inmates - as an inmate, servicing God from his prison cell.
My purpose in writing this book is not to scare people into thinking that if they commit their lives to God, bad things will happen to them or to their family members. All of our journeys are different. However, there is a cost to being a Christ-follower (James 1:2). The surprising comfort is that when God seems the most absent, He is the most present, and the cup of suffering can become the cup of joy. I would never have chosen this testimony or this unthinkable future for my only child, but I will not waste it. What has happened to us can become a platform upon which we declare hope, faith, and truth to those who are watching our reactions and listening to our story.
I have not yet mentioned in this interview how deeply grieved Gene and I were for the family who lost their son/brother at the hands of our son. We continue to grieve for them. Even though we believe our son's mental state was altered by his extreme fear for the safety of his stepdaughters, God never goes against His Word. What our son did was against the laws of God and man.
Eva Marie: Thank you, Carol...so very, very much.... (And now my readers know why I love you - and Gene, and your entire family - with all my heart!)
For more information on Speak Up for Hope, contact Carol at: www.SpeakUpforHope.org or call toll free 888.987.1212.
Award-winning national speaker, Eva Marie Everson's work includes Intimate Moments with God and Intimate Encounters with God (Cook). She is the author of Shadow of Dreams, Summon the Shadows and Shadow of Light. (Barbour Fiction) She can be contacted for comments or for speaking engagement bookings at
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By: Hanna Hajjar
Where does the church leadership stand on all this Seyfo booklet?
Having completed the commentary, we arrive at the question of where does the new Patriarch Mor Afram II stand concerning this issue? With his seal at the opening of the Seyfo booklet, the questions that arise are:
• Did he read and endorse what was written? Or
• Did he just stamp his approval without reading the material?
If the Patriarch approved what was written after reading it, then he had knowingly automatically excluded the Assyrian members of his own church, let alone endorsed shady historical facts.
If the Patriarch didn’t read what was written, (maybe he was busy traveling and tending to other emergencies), then the blame falls completely on the authors /writers.
But now that the Patriarch is alerted to the mess that the authors/writers got the Syriac church in, it is his responsibility to fix this problem! Now he has the chance to hear the other side, and order amendments and the fixing of the writers’/authors’ mistakes. The ball is in his court!
Since Bishop Afram Karim became the new Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church, almost a year ago, we have seen him traveling all around the world, many of which were humanitarian and dealing with the sufferings of his congregation in north Iraq and Syria, and that is greatly appreciated. But the problem that we have with the booklet is very important too, especially that it deals with our history, and what is causing this, is in the interpretations of certain terminologies! And that can be easily fixed if the patriarch wants too, and it will keep us in limbo if the patriarch doesn’t want to, or doesn’t care!
The Patriarch in making speeches, where he uses slogans such as “Syriacs, Assyrians, and Chaldeans, are one people”, and calling for the “Unity”, and that “He is Everyone’s Patriarch”, (i.e. within his Syriac Orthodox Church). Well the question here is: With all due respect to the Patriarch, what exactly does he mean with those terms? We ask this question because this is the essence of our problem, and it always has been shoved under the rug, and not addressed, and now it had blown up in our faced right at the commemoration of the 100 anniversary of Seyfo! So it would be very wise to address, and tackle it, once and for all.
On one hand, the patriarch had officially claimed that he is Aramean, and I respect his views of what he believes himself to be. But with the same token there are many members within his own church who do not share his ethnic identity, after all the Syriac Church evangelized many nations, and that is why it has Indians, Assyrians, and Arabs, who are not only Arameans members. Now this issue would not be a problem if there is tolerance within the Syriac Church, but when church leaders allow the secular Arameans to spread their propaganda, and ideology of the hate of others within the church and launch anti-Assyrian campaign, then we are faced with an issue of oppression, discrimination, and exclusion of other members, allowing the Arameans group to highjack the church, consequently that leads the Assyrians within the Syriac Orthodox Church to believe that they are excluded and not welcome by the Patriarch, and hence implying that the Patriarch does not represent them! A simple proof is the Church booklet about Seyfo, where theauthors/writers completely excluded the Assyrian-Syriac Orthodox victims, as if they didn’t exist at all, and they catered only to Arameans of the Levant who were not even subjected to any Seyfo genocide.
I am not going to dwell on this; Instead, I will list a simple solution below and a recommend that the Patriarch takes it into consideration, and addresses the issue very soon, because the 100th anniversary is coming in almost one moth from now. The Patriarch needs to take action if he is seriously interested in unifying his own church, and if he really want to be the Patriarch of everyone within his church! The decision is all his!
When the patriarch says “Syriacs, Assyrians and Chaldeans, are One People”;
* Is he excluding the “Arameans”? Or is he implying that the “Syriacs” are the “Arameans”?
* And if he thinks that "Syriacs" means "Arameans" only, then there are many others (including previous Patriarchs of the Syriac church), who don’t share that definition based on historical facts, because obviously the Syriac Church evangelized many nations!
* Furthermore, when the patriarch says “Assyrians”, is he talking about the Assyrians within his Syriac Orthodox Church? Or is he talking about the “Assyrians” of the “Assyrian Church of the East”?
Because if it is within his own church then that contradicts Syriacs = Arameans. And if it is outsides his own church, then he is not recognizing the Assyrians within his own church!
* Additionally when he combines “Syriac, Assyrian, & Chaldeans” is he talking about three different churches (i.e. Syriac Orthodox Church, Assyrian Church of the East, and Chaldean Catholic Church), (i.e. those names to him are denominations/sects names), or is he combining three different ethnic groups, (i.e. every Syriac speaking denomination/sect is a combination of those three ethnicities or nations?
* When the patriarch talks about “Unity”, is he talking about unity among all the different Syriac-speaking churches? Unity amongst generic Christian Churches Worldwide? Or unity amongst the different ethnicities within his own Syriac Orthodox Church?
As you see those terms if not strictly explained, they are very confusing, and people are not fortune tellers to guess what the Patriarch means! Those slogans are ambiguous, and confusing, they need to be very clear and interpreted in one way only, so that we truly understand what is really meant, and not what is said! Especially that the Aramean side is promoting its ideology claiming that Assyrians are extinct, and they don’t exist and that Syriac exclusively means Aramean. Based on all this, the key point that the Patriarch needs to clarify is to specifically clear this ambiguity. Do “Assyrians” exist to him or not? Are there Assyrians within his church or not? Because according to some of his subordinate clergymen Assyrians don’t exist! Based on this, and as Assyrians within the Syriac Orthodox Church, this is what we believe that the patriarch needs to clarify ones and for all:
a- What is the status of Assyrians within the Syriac Orthodox Church? Does the Patriarch recognize them or not?
b- If the Patriarch recognizes them, then are Assyrians members equal to Arameans, Indians, and Arabs, within his church, or is there an ethnic and class discrimination practiced within the Syriac Orthodox Church?
c- What is the official Syriac Orthodox Church definition of the term “Syriac”, “Syrian”, “Assyrian”, “Aramaic”, & “Aramean”?
The Patriarch Mor Afram II needs to issue an official declaration clarifying and defining exactly the identity of the Syriac Orthodox people based on the above three questions. He should not leave it to the interpretation of his slogans, nor to the definitions spread by non-Syriac Orthodox people who are trying to inject their own interpretations to create a split within the Syriac church, nor leave it to the illiterate ignorant people!
Years ago in Sweden when the situation flared up between the Assyrian and Aramean groups there, Patriarch Mor Zakka issued a declaration that we are all Syriacs and banned the use of both Assyrian and Aramean names, as it turned out this didn’t work, because the church clergymen took the side of the Arameans and allowed them to promote their name in church while they banned the Assyrians from doing the same. The following is a guideline of what is expected to fix this problem:
• The foundation to build this declaration on is to be based on the historical writings of the historian Mor Mikhael Rabo one of the Patriarchs of the Syriac Orthodox Church, where he mentions both Assyrians and Arameans as parts of the Syrian church, (noting that at that time he was talking about the both the Jacobite and Melkite branches), and years later Patriarch Mor Yacoub III, wrote a similar definition.
• Based on that Assyrians would like to see the Patriarch issuing a declaration stating that:
The Syriac Church in the Middle East, is made of “Assyrians”, and “Arameans”, and any statements issued by Arameans do not reflect the views of the Syriac Orthodox Church, since the Syriac Orthodox Church is not made of Arameans only.
• Anything less than that would imply that “Assyrians” within the Syriac Orthodox Church are not recognized, and hence they are not welcome there! Then the Assyrians would look elsewhere for a church that welcomes them and treats them as equals, or even create their own independent church, just like the “Indian Syriac Orthodox Church” did in India. If the Indians did it, the Assyrians can do it too!
• According to the Seyfo booklet, the Syriac Orthodox Church doesn’t recognize the Assyrian Orthodox victims; so what reason do Assyrian Orthodox have to attend the Syriac Church’s Seyfo commemoration on April 24th 2015? Is it to commemorate the so called Aramean victims? As you see there is nothing to attract Assyrian Orthodox to the church then!
With all due respect to the Patriarch, now the ball is in his court, and we hope that he would make the right decision, and resolve this problem before April 24th 2015, because if this is not resolved by then, he would be the Patriarch of the Arameans only, and not the Patriarch of all Suryoye!
Add to that, the fact that if Assyrians are excluded, then the burden of proof is on the shoulders of the current Patriarch to prove that his predecessor Patriarchs Mar Mikhael Rabo, Mor Afram Barsom, and Mor Yacoub III, were all wrong when they mentioned Assyrians as part of the Syriac Orthodox Church.
Continued in Parts: IV, & V.
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I grew up in the midwest but Mother would buy shrimp every once in a while which she always served boiled. We didn’t do a traditional coastal shrimp boil, however, just boiled shrimp as the entree. Served with her shrimp sauce — half mayo and half ketchup. Sheet pan dinners are a fad now and they certainly are easy. You dump everything on a sheet pan, put it in the oven and voila, you have a one pan dinner! This sheet pan shrimp boil made the icy weather go away — it’s simple and delicious!
I adore scones and a special tea treat are cheese ones. They’re easy and bake up quickly. They are a cousin to a biscuit and this recipe can be transformed into those beloved Red Lobster Biscuits by dipping them in a half cup of melted butter to which a ¼ teaspoon of garlic powder has been added. Me, I prefer them as is with a steaming pot of tea in the afternoon!
1 ¾ c. flour
2 t. Baking powder
½ t. Salt
1 c. heavy cream
1 c. grated Cheddar cheese
Preheat oven to 450
Mix flour, baking powder and salt together. Stir in cheese and mix. Stir in cream until soft dough forms. Put on floured board and knead a few times. Pat out ½ to ¾ inch thick and cut with biscuit cutter. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until done.
IF, making Red Lobster biscuits, spoon the butter/garlic powder mixture over the biscuits as they come out of the oven.
I like simple cakes and this one is superb! A nice lemony cake made moist by the addition of mascarpone. It’s like the LBD of cakes — you can dress up or down!
1 ½ c. flour
½ t. Baking powder
¼ t. Salt
⅔ c. powdered sugar
½ c. butter, melted
7 oz. mascarpone*
½ t. Vanilla
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour a loaf pan (I like to put a piece of parchment in the bottom)
Mix flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat together with whisk attachment, the eggs and powdered sugar until creamy. Add the melted butter and the mascarpone and beat on low. Add the vanilla and the lemon zest and juice.
Add flour mixture and beat slowly until the flour is all incorporated.
Pour batter in the prepared pan. Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.
*My container of mascarpone was 8 ounces so I used the full carton.
I’m not Swedish but we do enjoy a few Swedish foods — spritz cookies, Swedish tea cakes, Swedish pancakes and Swedish meatballs. They’re easy to make and taste best when served on top of noodles and with lingonberries if you can find them (cranberries are a good substitute if you cannot.)
1 pound 80% (or leaner) ground beef
½ pound lean ground pork
1 small onion, finely chopped
¾ c. panko bread crumbs
2 T. finely chopped fresh parsley
½ t. Salt
⅛ t. Pepper
1 t. Worchestershire sauce
½ c. milk
¼ c. butter
¼ c. flour
1 t. Paprika
¼ t. Salt
⅛ t. Pepper
2 c. water
¼ c. sour cream
In a large bowl, mix all meatball ingredients until well blended. Shape into 1 ½ inch balls. Place meatballs in large skillet, cook over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes or until browned. Remove meatballs from skillet; cover to keep them warm.
In same skillet, melt butter over medium heat. With wire whisk, stir in flour, paprika, salt and pepper; cook, stirring until bubbly. Slowly add water, stirring constantly until mixture boils and thickents. Add meatballs to gravy. Cook over medium low heat 8 to 10 minutes or until meatballs are throughly cooked. Stir in sour cream until blended and hot.
Daughter Sarah lives in Minnesota and creamy wild rice soup is as much tradition there as is The Hot Dish. We always have wild rice in the larder and it can easily be made with leftover chicken or with rotisserie chicken. It’s a good soup and we like the nutty flavor of the wild rice!
1 c. wild rice
¼ c. oil
1 onion, chopped
2 medium carrots (peeled and chopped)
2 stalks celery (chopped)
1 t. Dried thyme (or 1 T. fresh)
¾ c. flour
8 cups chicken stock
2 cups cooked chicken, cubed
Salt and pepper
1 c. half and half (or cream)
½ cup chopped parsley
Cook wild rice in 4 cups of water for 45 minutes or until it fluffs up. Drain any remaining liquid left in the pot. Set aside.
In a large pot, add oil. Saute onions, carrots and celery until soft, about 3 minutes. Add thyme and flour. Cook and stir for another 2 to 3 minutes.
Pour in chicken stock. Bring to a boil
Add cooked chicken, salt and pepper. Reduce heat and allow soup to simmer for 10 minutes. Add cooked wild rice and pour in half and half (or cream). Bring soup back up to a boil and allow it to heat through, about 5 minutes.
I like easy chicken recipes. One that you can throw in the oven and in 30 minutes or an hour you have your dinner entree. This is good and easy and I like the hint of cinnamon. My favorite way to serve it is with Garlic-Sour Cream Noodles (really linguine).
6 chicken breasts, skinned and deboned
¼ c. butter
1 cup flour seasoned with salt and pepper
¼ c. butter
2 T. sesame seeds
1 ½ c. chopped onions
12 oz. jar apricot preserves
½ t. Cinnamon
1 T. pepper
In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Roll chicken breasts in seasoned flour and place in skillet. Saute breasts until lightly browned on each side, then place in a 9 x 9 glass casserole. Melt ¼ c. butter and sautee onions and sesame seeds until onions are tender. Add apricot preserves, cinnamon and pepper, cooking until preserves are dissolved, and sauce is smooth. Pour sauce over chicken breasts, cover tightly (I use foil) and bake 40 minutes at 350 degrees.
This time of year I love seasonal desserts. The flavors of Christmas. This peppermint cheesecake pie is so simple, must be made ahead and is the flavor of the season! It’s no bake and goes together quickly. And who doesn’t like something made with cream cheese and cream? It would make a good dessert for any holiday dinner.
PEPPERMINT CHEESECAKE PIE
22 Oreo cookies
3 T. melted butter
1 T. sugar
16 oz. softened Cream Cheese
16 oz. heavy cream
1 c. sugar
¼ c. powdered sugar
1 t. Peppermint extract
6 drops pink food coloring
Crust Oreos in food processor and add melted butter and sugar. Press mixture into bottom and partway up sides of springform pan.
Refrigerate at least 30 minutes to firm.
Beat cream cheese and sugar until well mixed. Set aside.
Whip heavy cream and powdered sugar until stiff peaks form.
Fold and blend cream cheese mixture into whipped cream mixture
Add food coloring and peppermint into filling mixture.
Pour/spread into pan.
Refrigerate at least 4 hours or until firm.
You can garnish with dollops of whipped topping and crushed peppermints if desired.
It seems that this time of year there are a lot of “come and bring” parties. The trick of lining a small bundt pan with Saran to form your “cheeseball” works with other recipes — as long as you use two 8 ounce packages of cream cheese. This recipe is festive for this time of year, but good at any time — just form it into a ball if it is not December!
HOLIDAY CHEESE BALL
16 ounces cream cheese, softened
8 ounces Cheddar, shredded
2 t. Worcestershire sauce
½ c. pickled Peppadew peppers*
Salt and pepper to taste
½ c. freshly chopped parsley
¼ c. freshly chopped chives
Line small bundt pan with Saran Wrap. Mix cheeses, add Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Fold in all but 2 T. of the peppers. Pat into lined mold and refrigerate at least overnight. Next day unmold and pat parsley and chives around the outside. Use the reserved 2 T. of peppers to decorate the top of “wreath”.
*If you can’t find Peppadews, plain old pimentos would work well.
This is the time of the year that often you need to take something to a party — “finger food” — as it is often called. Although I have a lot of old favorites, I’m always looking for new recipes. I tasted this first at Kitchen Connections Holiday Open House in Nevada. It’s one of those simple recipes that you just put together. Often you have all the ingredients on hand, however, I think it needs time to develop so I think it needs to be made a day ahead.
ORANGE MARMALADE CREAM CHEESE SPREAD
8 ounces softened cream cheese
8 ounces grated cheddar cheese
1 bunch green onions, chopped (unless you buy the big package, then use 6), white and green parts
1 ½ c. mayonnaise
½ c. orange marmalade
¼ cup toasted slivered almonds, chopped
Sliced almonds, for garnish
Mix together cream cheese, cheddar cheese, onions and mayonnaise. Add chopped almonds. Put into a wide shallow dish. Sprinkle with sliced almonds.
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2015 Cadillac ATS 2.0T Performance Coupe Review by Carey Russ +VIDEO
Cadillac's ATS Coupe is a world class contender
DRIVING DOWN THE ROAD WITH CAREY
• SEE ALSO: Cadillac Buyers Guide
"Designed to be lighter, more agile, and more engaging than its competitors" is the claim in the media kit for the 2015 Cadillac ATS Coupe. In the past, that would have been laughable hyperbole. Now? Believe it! The ATS Coupe is a stylish cruise missile aimed at Southern Germany. It's right-sized, quick over the road with excellent suspension and drivetrain tunings, and more than holds its own against BMW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz.
Yes, the engine is a four-cylinder. So? Turbocharging, direct fuel injection, and variable cam phasing give it 272 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque from its 2.0-liter displacement, driving the rear wheels. Those specs beat Cadillac's 3.2 and 3.6-liter vee-sixes of previous years and compare well with the 3.6 V6 that is optional now. The V6 makes 321 horsepower, but only 275 lb-ft, and adds weight to the front end. The V6 may be quicker on the dragstrip, but when the road gets interesting light weight and balance wins. While both engines are matched to a six-speed automatic transmission, the 2.0T can also be ordered with a six-speed manual. Rear-wheel drive is the standard configuration, with all-wheel drive available with both engines.
The ATS sedan made its debut for model year 2013, with the coupe new this year. Sitting on the same 109.3-inch wheelbase as the sedan, the coupe is less than an inch longer, an inch lower, and an inch and a half wider, with a wider track, all the better for responsive handling. Inside it sacrifices about an inch in headroom and the center rear seating position. It's a 2+2 coupe, and normal-sized adults can and did fit back there.
In base 2.0T trim, the ATS Coupe is, as expected, well-equipped. Even there high-performance Brembo brakes are standard items, as well as a nine-speaker Bose audio system and a rear-view camera. Above that, in ascending order of equipment and price, as the Luxury, Performance, and Premium trim levels.
My test car for the past week was a 2.0T Performance model equipped with the Kona Brown interior trim package and with a navigation system added to the CUE (Cadillac User Experience) information and entertainment interface. Rear-wheel drive and automatic transmission. The stick would have been more fun, perhaps, but with the engine's lovely torque characteristics, no complaints. Shifting optional -- any one of three gears could be used in nearly every driving situation. Even enjoying that as much as I could, and with as little highway droning as possible, I saw a 22-mpg average for the week. Compliments, also, to Cadillac's suspension engineers. Even in Sport mode rude quality was first-class Euro sport-luxury, without the thumpiness that often biases such more toward the sport side at the expense of comfort. Chassis dynamics? Wonderful With four-piston Brembo calipers in front, braking was never a worry. Can America compete with the best in the world in the performance-luxury class? Absolutely.
APPEARANCE: Embodying the latest in Cadillac styling cues -- sharp, angular edges and character lines, gently-curved surfaces, and vertical head- and tail-lamps -- the ATS Coupe is fittingly graceful and elegant. Although recognizably similar to the sedan, the coupe's roof, doors, rear fenders, and trunk are unique. As are the front fenders, widened a bit for the wider track. The grille was reshaped compared to last year's ATS sedan, and is also found on this year's sedan. Chrome trim surrounds the grille and side windows, and is also used on the door handles. Interestingly, without a frame of reference, the ATS Coupe looks much larger than it actually is. Unusually in this day of front-wheel drive ubiquity, the longitudinal hood bulge is actually over a longitudinal engine. There is a bit of a splitter at the front, but a short overhang keeps is out of trouble in most circumstances.
COMFORT: Interior design is cohesive with the exterior, cohesive without being overly busy. Materials and fit and finish are all to world-class standards. Yes, the "Kona Brown" interior is a pricey option at $1,295, but the wood used for trim pieces is discernibly wood, and not encased in plastic coating. Here, seats are leather, fronts 12-way power-adjustable and heated. The steering wheel adjusts for both tilt and reach and features a heated leather rim and controls for audio, information, and cruise systems. Instruments are brightly-backlit and easy to see. The CUE touchscreen at the top of the center stack and well-marked touch-sensitive controls below it are the main controls for climate, audio, phone, and information systems. Yes, they can be a bit finicky, such is the nature of that type of control. You'll adapt. The glovebox locks and there are useful storage spaces throughout the cabin. Audio choices are AM, FM, and XM radio, external players via USB or jack, and streaming through a Bluetooth phone.
Access to the rear seat is good for a coupe, if more contorted than in a sedan. Nature of the beast -- and once in, two adults fit well if they're under 5-8 or so. The rear seatback does fold, a rarity in this class. Trunk capacity should be plenty for two people and any reasonable trip. Runflat tires mean no spare.
SAFETY: All ATS Coupes have a rearview camera. All have Brembo brakes, vented rotors front and rear with four-piston front calipers and single-piston rear calipers. Antilock of course, and with GM's unintrusive Stabilitrak electronic stability control system. Airbags are front, front side, front knee, and full-length head curtain. Performance and Premium models have the Driver Awareness Package of a safety alert driver's seat, forward collision alert, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, high-beam control, and rain-sensing wipers. The safety alert seat vibrates on the appropriate side if a potential hazard is detected. Judicious driving in my narrow driveway was a good way to get a free massage…
RIDE AND HANDLING: What's better than passive safety? Active safety. The accident you avoid is the best kind… and here the ATS is your friend. Rear-wheel and near-50/50 weight distribution and healthy 225/40 VR18 front and 255/35 VR18 rear tires mean excellent traction and responsive steering. Which is further helped by the ZF electrically-assisted steering, which is never overly-assisted, even in normal and winter modes. Suspension is double-pivot struts in front and five-link in the rear, calibrated for a near-perfect blend of responsiveness and comfort. But there is no harshness or discomfort, even in Sport mode on dubious pavement.
PERFORMANCE: Ah, the joys of forced induction… plus direct fuel injection and variable cam phasing. Result? Maximum power when needed, and with a minimal appetite for unleaded premium. As much power as from a larger and heavier V6, with less weight. Statistics: 272 horsepower at 5500 rpm, 295 lb-ft of torque from 3000 through 4600 rpm. Redline is 7000, but there's no need to go anywhere near there except maybe if you're on the salt flats. Turbo lag is a non-issue, and even on appropriately entertaining roads sport mode and "D" worked well enough maybe 98% of the time. Torque is your friend. When desired, manual shifting by means of paddles behind the steering wheel is available. 0-60 in 5.6 seconds or so, so short highway on-ramps will pose no problem. Brakes are just as good, stops as well as it goes. My 22 mpg for the week could have been improved by more highway miles, but that seemed like a waste of this car's abilities. If 272 hp and 295 lb-ft aren't enough, there's the ATS-V… with a twin-turbo version of the 3.6-liter V6 making 455 hp and 445 lb-ft and an appropriately-reinforced chassis.
CONCLUSIONS: In its ATS Coupe, Cadillac has a world-class contender.
2015 Cadillac ATS 2.0T Performance Coupe
Base Price $ 44,935
Price As Tested $ 48,255
Engine Type turbocharged 16-valve DOHC aluminum alloy inline 4-cylinder with continuously variable cam phasing and direct fuel injection
Engine Size 2.0 liters / 122 cu. in.
Horsepower 272 @ 5500 rpm
Torque (lb-ft) 295 @ 3000-4600 rpm
Transmission 6-speed automatic
Wheelbase / Length 109.3 in. / 183.6 in.
Curb Weight 3418 lbs.
Pounds Per Horsepower 12.6
Fuel Capacity 16 gal.
Fuel Requirement 91 octane unleaded premium recommended
Tires Continental ProContact 225/40R18 88V front,255/35R18 90V rear
Brakes, front/rear vented disc all around, 4-piston front calipers, single-piston rear. ABS standard
Suspension, front/rear independent MacPherson strut / independent multilink
Drivetrain front engine, rear-wheel drive
EPA Fuel Economy - miles per gallon city / highway / observed 21 / 30 / 22
0 to 60 mph 5.6 sec
OPTIONS AND CHARGES
Kona Brown interior with Jet Black accents $ 1,295
Cadillac User Experience (CUE) with Navigation $ 1,030
Destination Charge $ 995
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When the quiet morning routine of Shepherd, Texas, was violently interrupted by a chemical plant…
Every year, thousands of people experience workplace chemical exposure. Without proper safety measures, employees run the risk of developing a number of different diseases that can change their lives forever. Workers have a right to protection from the dangerous chemicals they use on the job, and employers are responsible for keeping their employees safe. Unfortunately, many people are diagnosed with illnesses as a result of workplace chemical exposure.
How Do Chemicals Enter the Body?
It’s important to understand how chemicals can get into the body so that you know how to protect yourself. Chemicals can enter the body in several ways:
- Inhalation. A person can inhale chemicals through their mouth and nose, which is the most common way chemicals enter the body. The particles and vapors they inhale are usually invisible, which means people may not even know about the chemicals they breathe in.
- Skin contact. Toxic chemicals can also enter the body through contact with the skin. Small ducts in the skin, as well as any cuts, punctures, or scrapes act as openings to the body. This can damage the skin and infect the blood stream.
- Ingestion. People most often ingest, or swallow, chemicals by eating or drinking contaminated food and drinks. Chemicals are eventually carried into the blood stream as they move through the digestive system.
- Injection. Chemicals may sometimes enter the body through accidental injection. Although this is the least common way for toxic chemicals to get inside of the body, it can still happen in some places like hospitals.
What Kind of Injuries Does Workplace Chemical Exposure Cause?
Harmful chemicals in the workplace are responsible for a large number of chronic illnesses and deaths that doctors may be unable to trace. This is due to the symptoms showing up many years after the exposure. Other injuries workplace chemical exposure may cause include:
- Throat or lung injuries
- Nerve and brain injuries
What are Some Examples of Workplace Chemical Exposure Lawsuits?
People who work in agriculture are among those most likely to be exposed to toxic chemicals, particularly from herbicides. This includes farmers, gardeners, maintenance workers, and people who live near farms. Two ongoing lawsuits involving pesticides center on chemical exposure to paraquat and glyphosate.
Paraquat dichloride is a chemical used to kill and prevent weeds. Because it is toxic, people who handle paraquat must have a license. Although paraquat is a very effective herbicide, many workers have filed lawsuits against paraquat manufacturers like Syngenta. Multiple scientific studies have linked paraquat to Parkinson’s disease and other adverse effects. The claims against paraquat manufacturers allege that the companies knew of the risks that come with using the herbicide and failed to warn its customers.
Parkinson’s disease is a progressive nervous system disorder that has no cure. It has a wide range of symptoms, including:
- difficulty with balance and walking
- loss of smell
- sleep disorders
Research shows that people who apply pesticides such as paraquat are twice as likely to develop Parkinson’s disease than the general public.
Roundup is an herbicide used in household and commercial settings. Glyphosate, the active ingredient, is excellent for killing weeds. However, thousands of people have filed lawsuits against Roundup’s manufacturer Bayer Monsanto after users of Roundup were diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a type of cancer. The lawsuits allege that Monsanto covered up the risks of using Roundup, putting the lives of the people who use their product at risk.
Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma is a type of cancer that starts in the lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell that fights infections. Many studies have noted the link between glyphosate and Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. However, experts have also linked Roundup to other types of cancer, such as leukemia, bone cancer, and B-cell Lymphoma.
Water contamination is a type of chemical exposure that can affect people everywhere, not just in the workplace. Military bases’ water sources around the country have been tainted with chemicals like PFAS, benzene, PCE, and vinyl chloride. Many chemicals can pollute water, making it unsafe to drink, cook, and bathe. Water contamination is a workplace issue that affects individuals whose work requires them to live in certain places.
PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are known as “forever chemicals.” These man-made chemicals resist even the most advanced water treatments. Military bases across the country are known to be contaminated by PFAS, but that’s not the only place these forever chemicals are present. PFAS can be found in many sources, including food, household products, fire-fighting foams, industry jobs, water sources, and living organisms.
Because of the extremely strong chemical bond between carbon and fluorine atoms, PFAS doesn’t break down in the body. This often leads to many different kinds of health problems. Data from research shows links from PFAS to adverse health effects such as:
- different types of cancer
- immunological effects
- thyroid disruption
- raised cholesterol levels
- reproductive and developmental effects
Camp Lejeune is a Marine base located in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Like many other military bases, its water sources were contaminated for over 30 years by several chemicals, including PCE, vinyl chloride, TCE, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes. Underground storage tanks, industrial area spills, and wastewater disposal sites leaked these chemicals, and more, into the base’s water sources.
Due to exposure from the many chemicals in the water, people who lived at Camp Lejeune from 1953 to 1987 for more than 30 days may be able to get compensation for many health issues. These include:
- several types of cancer
- Parkinson’s Disease
- Hepatic Steatosis
Tiny dust particles from minerals are very dangerous due to the fact that people cannot see or feel them. When people breathe air that has particles like asbestos and silica in it, the dust can damage their lungs and other body parts. In many cases, people do not realize they have been exposed to any mineral particles until they develop an illness years later.
Asbestos refers to a group of six fibrous minerals that occur naturally in the environment. These minerals make great construction materials, as they are durable, good insulators, and fire-resistant. As a result, people often used asbestos in construction, insulation, and manufacturing for years before experts discovered its link to cancer. Today, employers have a responsibility to protect workers from asbestos exposure.
Asbestos is a carcinogen, and it’s one of the leading causes of mesothelioma, a cancer that affects the lungs, abdomen, and heart. Exposure to asbestos can also cause lung cancer and asbestosis. Most people don’t find out they have these diseases until 10-40 years after their exposure.
Crystalline silica is another type of mineral found in sand and rocks, including sandstone and granite. People may be exposed to the fine particles of silica dust in a number of industries, including sandblasting, mining, construction, masonry, and manufacturing. Silica exposure is a serious threat to around 2 million workers in the United States because breathing in the dust can lead to silicosis.
Also known as “sandblasting disease,” silicosis is part of a group of diseases called pneumoconiosis. Experts characterize the diseases in this group by fibrous scar tissue and nodules in the lungs. People with silicosis may have:
- trouble with breathing
- inflamed lungs
- severe shortness of breath
- low blood oxygen levels
Symptoms may appear anywhere from a few weeks to several years after silica exposure.
People can also inhale chemical vapors, which cause damage to the lungs and other parts of the body. In addition, vapors may be hard to detect since people can’t see, feel, or smell the dangerous chemicals floating in the air. Unfortunately, chemical vapors have the same ability to make people sick as any other form of chemical exposure.
Diacetyl, both a naturally occurring and man-made compound, is highly toxic. The compound is present in some foods and food processes and can cause serious lung diseases in workers and people who consume the foods. People who work in coffee plants, animal feed plants, bakeries, candy factories, and flavoring manufacturing plants are most at risk. Unfortunately, they are often unaware of their exposure to diacetyl.
People who breathe in diacetyl may develop a lung disease called bronchiolitis obliterans. When diacetyl vapors enter the lungs, the tissue in the bronchioles becomes fibrotic and turns to scar tissue. Scar tissue does not carry oxygen the way it should, and the tissue will never heal. Symptoms of bronchiolitis obliterans include:
- scarring of lung tissue
- shortness of breath
- irritation of the eyes, nose, throat, and skin.
Benzene is a highly flammable liquid commonly used in maintenance and repair work to cut grease and dissolve rust, and it evaporates quickly when exposed to air. A common chemical in the United States, benzene is used in work with plastics, lubricants, rubbers, dyes, detergents, and pesticides. However, benzene is also a known carcinogen, and experts have linked it to several types of cancer.
Long-term exposure to benzene often has serious effects on the blood. Benzene can alter cell function in many ways. For example, benzene exposure lowers counts of red and white blood cells. In addition, it also causes several types of cancer, many of which are related to the blood. Experts have linked the following diseases to benzene:
- Acute Myelogenous Leukemia
- Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
- Multiple Myeloma
- Myelodysplastic Syndrome/Myelodyplasia
- Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
The Carlson Law Firm Can Help
Chemical exposure in the workplace is nothing to take lightly. While these chemicals have the potential to cause harm, there are many safety measures employers can and should take to keep their employees safe. Employers need to be held responsible if they don’t protect their workers. If you have suffered an illness as a result of chemical exposure on the job, you should contact a chemical exposure lawyer immediately.
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Gastroenterology Research and Practice
Volume 2013 (2013), Article ID 504816, 8 pages
Changes in Ghrelin-Related Factors in Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease in Rats
1Tsumura & Co., Tsumura Research Laboratories, 3586 Yoshiwara, Ami-machi, Inashiki-gun, Ibaraki 300-1192, Japan
2Department of Gastroenterology and Hematology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, N15 W7 Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8638, Japan
3Department of Pathophysiology and Therapeutics, Division of Pharmasciences, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hokkaido University, N12 W6 Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0812, Japan
Received 21 December 2012; Revised 5 March 2013; Accepted 9 March 2013
Academic Editor: Ping-I Hsu
Copyright © 2013 Miwa Nahata et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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Although often dismissed by industry veterans and novices alike as trivial, working in proximity to live 120V circuits leads to the untimely and unexpected death of many workers each year (see Lessons in Low Voltage below). What many electrical workers don't realize is that any 120V shock is potentially lethal — and surviving such an event should be viewed as a bullet dodged rather than something that simply comes with the territory. No one starts their day anticipating they will be a decedent by sunset. Unfortunately, this is the story of an electrical field technician who did not dodge the 120V bullet and paid the price with his life.
The day started like any other for this field technician, who was working for a company that routinely installed temporary electrical power systems at various construction sites.
The circuits installed were typically 2-phase, low-voltage (120/240V). Power was delivered to temporary wooden power poles using heavy extension cords, which were connected using twistlock-type connectors. The cords ran between the permanent power source that was owned by the electric utility and the first temporary pole in the series of poles. Given the need to drive multiple large loads associated with tools on construction sites, minimizing the distance from power source to load was always a concern on these sites. Shorter distances translated to lower voltage drop along the line. If the voltage at the load was too low, the tools would not perform as needed.
On the day of the incident, the victim was asked to disconnect one source from a pole (previously set up by his company) and connect a series of temporary poles to a closer power source (also set up by his company).
Upon arriving at the scene, the man and his supervisor walked through the site, inspecting the work area. First, the technician was to perform a live cutout of the more distant power source, thus de-energizing and isolating a series of poles. This task entailed placing a ladder against one pole, climbing the ladder, and cutting the two live 120V phases, the neutral, and finally cutting the ground, presumably with wire cutters. Doing this work “live” meant that any equipment connected upstream of the cutout on the live sequence of poles would not suffer a power interruption.
With the supervisor watching, the victim, who was not wearing insulated gloves, successfully cut out the live circuit. Based on testimony from his supervisor, the technician was then supposed to separate a male and female twistlock connector in a sequence of power cords, thus breaking a live connection to the closer power source and leaving a de-energized cord that was to be connected to the recently de-energized series of temporary poles. The next step was to place a ladder on the pole where the new connection was to be made and remove the insulating electrical tape on the wire-clamps from the (now de-energized) wire coming from the upstream pole (where the successful live cutout had just been completed). Finally, the victim was to connect the ground, neutral, and two phases coming from the power cord. Upon completion of the connection process, he was instructed to reconnect the twistlock and energize the sequence of poles from the closer power source.
After observing the live cutout, the supervisor went about other business for only a few minutes. Upon his return, he noticed the technician was not at the top of the pole (where he was supposed to be making the new connection). Soon thereafter, he heard moaning and quickly found the victim at the bottom of the ladder in apparent distress. Although the supervisor immediately called 911, and help arrived as soon as possible, the man died at the scene.
A lawsuit quickly ensued, with the estate/family of the decedent suing the owner of the construction site. I was retained by the plaintiff's counsel as a forensic expert to examine all of the evidence, reconstruct the accident scenario, and explain to what extent the decedent had contributed to his own death.
Although the utility had no ownership or liability, the first technical person on the scene was a troubleman from the power company. He made several initial assessments. First, he noted that the ladder was fiberglass; therefore, it would not have provided a pathway to ground. The ground wire to the new source at the top of the pole had been properly connected. Upon inspection, he found that the insulating tape covering the wire-clamps from the line just cut out (the old source) to the pole had been removed, but the clamps were still connected to the wires leading to downstream poles.
On the new line to be connected, he noticed that the neutral (white) was cut but not stripped or connected. One phase (red) was cut and fully stripped back approximately 1 inch. The other phase (black) was cut with the insulation slid a short distance back but still intact on the wire. He measured the voltage on the exposed phases at 120V. Subsequently, per testimony by the supervisor, the twistlock that was supposed to break the live connection from the new source was still connected, thus explaining why the wires at the top of the pole were live.
Continuing the investigation, OSHA offered additional analysis, including the following clues. Pieces of electrical tape were observed on the ground at the foot of the pole. The missing piece of red insulation was not found at the base of the pole or anyplace else for that matter. A pair of insulated wire cutters was found at the base of the ladder, some distance away from the base of the pole.
The body of the decedent was found face down with his feet close to the bottom of the ladder and his head facing away from the ladder. Revealing a single burn in the middle of the decedent's chest, the autopsy also noted that there were no injuries consistent with a fall from any significant height as might be expected in a fall from a ladder.
There was no doubt that this case involved an electric shock. The question was one of contributory negligence. The defense's theory appeared to be that contrary to the supervisor's instructions the decedent had chosen to work on a live wire, had failed to test the wire with a multimeter (as would have been good practice), and had begun to make a live connection. Next, they alleged he made contact with an energized phase while using the wire cutter, received a shock, and fell from the ladder, ultimately dying from electrically induced ventricular fibrillation.
From a forensic perspective, this case remained somewhat of a mystery, based on several circumstances. The lack of wounds consistent with a fall from the height necessary to work on the wires was troubling to say the least. In addition, no one took pictures of the placement of the wires before the investigation began. The wire cutter found on the ground was not at the base of the pole, as would have been anticipated if it had been dropped immediately following the shock. The handle of the wire cutter was insulated. Although tape, (presumably removed from the wire clamps), was found at the base of the pole, the stripped insulation from the red phase was nowhere to be found. This raised the question as to whether or not the wire had been stripped previously — or if the decedent had in fact even been working on the wires at the time of the electrical contact. In my opinion, had he been the one who stripped the red wire, the red piece of insulation would have been found somewhere.
At autopsy, less than 50% of all deaths caused by low-voltage contact are found to have burn injuries. The lack of burns delineating either entry or exit points are thus not definitive unto themselves. The single burn observed could have been an entry, an exit, but given its appearance, I thought it might have even been both, caused by close proximity between entry and exit points. It was quite possible that in climbing the ladder the decedent had not yet even begun work on the wires, and that two wires had contacted his chest, thus causing the burn and fibrillating his heart. Still, there was the issue of the lack of wounds from a fall. I also felt that the placement of the decedent's body was not consistent with a fall from the top of the ladder.
Despite the fact that there were no witnesses to the actual event, after considering all of the evidence present — and considering the probability of certain unknown factors — I concluded there was no evidence to suggest that the decedent had actively been working on the wires at the time of the electrical contact. Furthermore, I concluded that immediately following the electrical contact, the decedent was conscious long enough to climb down the ladder before falling in the position he was found as if exiting the ladder. As to the wire cutter at the base of the ladder, I believe it was either dropped or fell from his tool belt as he stumbled at the bottom of the ladder. Although no one can say for sure, there is a very good probability that it was not dropped directly from the top of the ladder.
Ultimately, I felt it was impossible to demonstrate to the legal standard that the decedent had actively contributed to his own demise. Independent of my other findings, I offered no comment regarding why the wire had not been disconnected at the twistlock. That was beyond my scope.
Like so many cases, because this case did not go to trial, we will never know how a jury would have viewed the evidence or weighed the opposing input from experts, such as myself. Unfortunately, I suppose only the decedent truly knows what happened on the ladder that day.
The lesson to be learned here is that no one is immune from the dangers of 120V — and that the next contact may be lethal. Given this reality, electrical workers should never develop a complacent attitude when working on or around 120V circuits.
To help prevent future accidents, anyone doing this type of work should hold regular tailgate meetings to emphasize the need for safety around live circuits. No circuit should ever be considered de-energized until tested. More specifically, circuits should be tested, procedures followed exactly as specified, and training should never minimize the risk from 120V. All live contacts — even those made with 120V circuits — should be made using personal protective gear. Following these safety tips goes a long way toward preventing more workers from becoming a tragic statistic.
Morse is a researcher and consultant who serves as a full professor of electrical engineering at the University of San Diego.
Sidebar: Lessons in Low Voltage
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 278 workers lost their lives in 1999 as a result of on-the-job electrocutions. This number accounted for almost 5% of all job-related deaths. Among work-related electrocutions (1992 to 1999), approximately one-third were linked to high-voltage (power line) contacts. A large percentage of the remaining on-the-job electrocution deaths were from low-voltage contacts.
While almost all high-voltage contacts result in burns and hospitalization, very few low-voltage contacts result in any injury requiring treatment. Therefore, they go unreported and are lost from statistical evaluation. Ironically, the two most likely outcomes from low-voltage contact are either no injury at all or death (from electrically induced ventricular fibrillation.) What we can learn from these statistics is that no one should have a false sense of security when working in proximity to live 120V circuits.
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Comparison of contingent valuation and choice experiment in solid waste management programs in Macao
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- Adamowicz W. & Louviere J. & Williams M., 1994.
"Combining Revealed and Stated Preference Methods for Valuing Environmental Amenities,"
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Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 271-292, May.
- Adamowicz, Wiktor L. & Louviere, J. & Willians, M., 1992. "Combining Revealed and Stated Preference Methods for Valuing Environmental Amenities," Staff Paper Series 232531, University of Alberta, Department of Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology.
- Stevens, T. H. & Belkner, R. & Dennis, D. & Kittredge, D. & Willis, C., 2000. "Comparison of contingent valuation and conjoint analysis in ecosystem management," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 63-74, January.
CitationsCitations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
- Catalina M. Torres Figuerola & Antoni Riera Font, 2009. "Defining environmental attributes as external costs in choice experiments: A discussion," CRE Working Papers (Documents de treball del CRE) 2009/1, Centre de Recerca Econòmica (UIB ·"Sa Nostra").
- Carmelo J. León & Jorge E. Araña & Javier León & Matías M. González, 2016. "The Economic Benefits of Reducing the Environmental Effects of Landfills: Heterogeneous Distance Decay Effects," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 63(1), pages 193-218, January.
- Hoyos, David, 2010. "The state of the art of environmental valuation with discrete choice experiments," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 1595-1603, June.
- Silvia Ferrini & Riccardo Scarpa, 2005. "Experimental Designs for Environmental Valuation with Choice-Experiments: A Monte-Carlo Investigation," Working Papers in Economics 05/08, University of Waikato.
- Schaafsma, Marije & Brouwer, Roy & Liekens, Inge & De Nocker, Leo, 2014. "Temporal stability of preferences and willingness to pay for natural areas in choice experiments: A test–retest," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 243-260.
- Wagner, Jeffrey, 2011. "Incentivizing sustainable waste management," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(4), pages 585-594, February.
- Prasenjit Sarkhel & Sarmila Banerjee, 2010. "Municipal solid waste management, source-separated waste and stakeholder’s attitude: a Contingent Valuation Study," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 12(5), pages 611-630, October.
- repec:spr:envpol:v:20:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s10018-017-0191-8 is not listed on IDEAS
- Wang , Hua & He, Jie & Kim, Yoonhee & Kamata, Takuya, 2011. "Municipal solid waste management in small towns : an economic analysis conducted in Yunnan, China," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5767, The World Bank.
- Agimass, Fitalew & Mekonnen, Alemu, 2011. "Low-income fishermen's willingness-to-pay for fisheries and watershed management: An application of choice experiment to Lake Tana, Ethiopia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 162-170.
- Veisten, Knut, 2007. "Willingness to pay for eco-labelled wood furniture: Choice-based conjoint analysis versus open-ended contingent valuation," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 29-48, May.
- Noukignon Koné, 2016. "Willingness to pay of the households to a waste management improvement in the precarious districts of Abidjan (Ivory Coast)," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 36(3), pages 1791-1804.
- Sukanya Das & Ekin Birol & Rabindra N. Bhattacharya, 2010. "Informing Efficient Solid Waste Management to Improve Local Environmental Quality and Public Health in West Bengal, India," Chapters,in: Choice Experiments in Developing Countries, chapter 10 Edward Elgar Publishing.
- Choi, Andy S., 2013. "Nonmarket values of major resources in the Korean DMZ areas: A test of distance decay," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 97-107.
- Mariana Saidón, 2012. "Environmental valuation of waste recycling: The case of Quilmes, Argentina," Economía, Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas y Sociales (IIES). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales. Universidad de Los Andes. Mérida, Venezuela, vol. 37(34), pages 33-53, July-Dece.
- Hoyos Ramos, David, 2010. "Using discrete choice experiments for environmental valuation," BILTOKI 2010-03, Universidad del País Vasco - Departamento de Economía Aplicada III (Econometría y Estadística).
- Roy Brouwer & Fumbi Job & Bianca Kroon & Richard Johnston, 2015. "Comparing Willingness to Pay for Improved Drinking-Water Quality Using Stated Preference Methods in Rural and Urban Kenya," Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 81-94, February.
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Report Card Pty Limited ACN 092 598 859 (“Advisir”) recognises that your privacy is very important and believes that information received by us that can be used to identify an individual user (“you”, “your”, “User”) should be treated with respect. We are serious about adhering to the Australian Privacy Principals and other applicable privacy legislation. Before providing us with any information, you should read through this policy so that you understand and are comfortable with exactly how we will collect and what we will do with any information you share with Us. By using Advisir Sites and/or Services covered by this Policy and providing Personal Information to us, you agree that we can communicate with you electronically regarding security, privacy and administrative issues relating to your account information.
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When we refer to “we” (or “our” or “us”), that means Report Card Pty Ltd and all its owned subsidiaries. Our headquarters are in Australia and our website(s) are accessible to an international population.
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Name: Report Card Pty Ltd (ACN 092 598 859) Address: PO Box 5558, St Georges Terrace, Perth WA 6831 Phone: 08 6169 3100 ,
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We collect information you provide to us in optional, voluntary submissions, including but not limited to registration forms, posts within the forums, clicking “thumbs up” and “great analysis” buttons, adding to watchlists, subscription pages, user profiles, promotional signups, sweepstakes/contest entries, email requests for customer service, software and mobile and application downloads.
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We collect “Personal Information”, as well as non-personally identifiable information on Advisir Sites and/or Services. “Personal Information,” as used in this Policy, is personally identifiable information, such as your first and last name, email address, IP addresses, demographics, passwords, 708 sophisticated investor status, telephone numbers and/or other online contact information.
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If you wish to receive the personal information we have collected from you then you can do so by contacting us at [email protected]
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You can change your browser’s privacy settings to delete or control cookies or other similar technology as you wish. Please note that updating these settings may prevent you from using various functionality features, products or services of our Site.
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If you do not wish to have your browsing activity tracked or your information used for the purpose of delivering you targeted advertisements as explained under Marketing & Advertising, you may opt-out of the services currently used by Advisir. Please note, you will still continue to receive non-personalised advertisements. Click on the relevant “Opt Out” links provided below if you would like to opt out of interest based advertising that any of them deliver:
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It is a requirement by ASIC that Advisir retain your Personal Information and all other account related information accessible on our systems and backup systems for up to 6 months. If you wish to have your account deleted you may do so by emailing [email protected], however your pseudonym username along with your submitted posts will remain on the site.
If you delete your account, your Personal Information be permanently deleted. Deletion of your data may take up to 30 days from accessible systems and up to 90 days from backup systems.
If you choose to have an account with us in the future, you will have to sign up for a new account as none of the information you previously provided or saved within your account will have been saved.
Third Party Services and Links
Changes and Updates to This Policy
We encourage you to review this Policy periodically to stay informed about our collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information. Your continued use of our Sites and/or Services or any other content, products or services covered by this Policy constitutes your agreement to this Policy and any updates.
Further information can be found at the Government Privacy web site: www.privacy.gov.au
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As a kid I lacked an identity. I was too many of them in one body, I had no religion. I always asked my mom “what religion am I?” Because I wanted to feel like I belonged somewhere. I also had a feeling she had a religion, we had a meditation room, pictures of Ganesha, and peacock feathers around the house. Yet, she didn’t really explain these things to me, they were just there. I wanted to be among my white friends who went to church, they seemed like they were considered good people. She told me “I don’t know, choose your own.”
As soon as I got the Internet it became my religion. On the Internet I finally felt free to be myself, but I didn’t like that self, so I didn’t want to be that self. Being half Asian I deeply hated looking like something that had no mirror. I didn’t know anyone who looked like me in the small town I grew up in, I didn’t have any celebrities to relate to. But, on the Internet, I could be someone else. I spent entire days using my aunt’s computer at her laundromat, the first place I knew that had internet, using IRC chat rooms. The first picture I sent was a picture of Baby Spice that I said was me. I was 11 years old, so, kinda true. I quickly became addicted to the Internet and the escape it lent, and then later, I became addicted to drugs in much the same way.
(literally the picture I sent that people actually believed was me)
I have been addicted to EVERY POPULAR DRUG. This is no joke. Psychiatric, illegal, psychedelic. I spent a good couple years documenting myself on YouTube while under the influence of drugs. I didn’t know what I was doing, really, I was just lonely. I wanted someone to see my pain. I wanted to be saved.
This didn’t work out. I got really sick and really sad and moved to Australia for several years to live with my mother.
I didn’t completely heal there, but I was able to become a bit more of a normal person. I enrolled in school, I got a cat, I got into relationships, I ate food again. It started to be human again.
(me watching tv and spending time with animals and being normal)
There seems to be a common cliche with people these days who stop doing drugs. They get really into positivity, bliss, Law of Attraction type stuff and they become hooked on the drug of God. I believe there are a lot of spiritual people who overuse social media spreading the word of God now because they are receiving the same dopamine rush from both their spiritual experiences and their social media likes that they were perhaps once receiving from drugs – they are constantly chasing a high. It’s a much more natural option, but it’s like Karl Marx says “religion is the opiate of the masses”, but now it’s more like yoga and meditation and Abraham Hicks are now the opiates of the masses.
This is pretty much what happened to me. My “healing journey” started out as some ironic joke to myself at first, because I couldn’t take anything seriously at the time.
(Me meditating with 6 ion bracelets on, lol)
But then it turned kinda serious as I actually intentionally brainwashed myself, by constantly listening to positive thinking mantras.
Don’t get me wrong – yoga, meditation, and positive thinking have *really* helped me in many ways. I had many years of trauma that coloured my mind and my body and made me incapable of forming healthy connections with other people. I thought terrible things about people all the time, I hated myself, and my body would literally become paralyzed in the presence of men because of all the sexual trauma I had been through. I really think being an attractive female in a capitalist society you often become a whore to the world. I was a candidate for that exploitation the second I turned 12. It was scary! I went through the long and relieving process of decompressing and unpacking those feelings from my mind and body from the day I began yoga.
Now, I feel like I did before I entered the misogynistic patriarchal world of capitalism, but better. I feel like I can be aware of these elements of the world and accept them without letting them bother or hurt me. These are just phases which will soon pass.
(Wheel of dharma)
Most of all, meditation has helped me gain an objective perspective of all of this. I am just one person on one part of the cycle. I had to go through those experiences to explore what trauma felt like, because deep down in the seat of my soul I felt like a bad person. So, it was part of my task of this life to explore this core belief by experiencing the life of the rejects and misanthropes of society.
(don’t have any photos of me in really dark situations so here is a photo of me trying to look bad)
In order to counterbalance all the drugs and trauma, afterwards, I decided I wanted to learn how to be a good person. I wanted to learn the unconditional love that I felt didn’t exist for me, I wanted to learn the compassion that wasn’t there for me every time I felt abandoned, and I wanted to be able to love people again without being afraid. Once I felt like these ideas felt real and possible with myself; I rebranded myself a new spiritual avatar on the Internet to act out these beliefs in the digital world, mostly because I was too afraid to go public with them because I was scared people would think I’m weird.
This sounds really contrived, and it was, as all our social media personalities are. But all of our facades, unconscious or conscious, are all the same – they are masks we hope will protect us. Our ego is the thing that constructs the stories in both our “real” life and our “virtual” one. Our changeable identity is the one thing that allows us to perform our souls wishes to experience the world. I put on a suit of spiritual armour because, I was still hurt. I didn’t want any more trauma to happen to me while I healed. It was how I protected myself.
Eventually, in becoming what I perceived to be spiritual by practicing compassion, forgiveness, unconditional love – all great qualities, I felt like I was missing something. I felt urges to do bad things even though they made me sick. And I realized, that I was simply exploring the opposite site of duality, acting “light” as a form of atonement for what I believed was a bad or dark period of my life. This was no different than my dark period. It still left me feeling isolated and trapped by my own limiting beliefs.
I also began to feel fractured because the book I had been working was not light – it is about codependency, the end of the world, distrust, mind control, and exploring my obsession with the school shooter mentality which my history of dealing with mental illness had made me felt a deep connection to. I was intentionally showing one element of myself to the world because I had hidden, was scared of, and had abandoned the other side.
This was not compassion, unconditional love, and not a true integrated healing.
I didn’t want to fall and explore the same dark side again, but at this point in my life I do not want to be seen as either. I want to a normal human.
With the release of my book I have also decided I need to also release myself from the addiction of social media for the summer and focus on my meditation practice and being in the world again. I want to practice my beliefs in person and less on social media. This doesn’t mean that I will be quitting, but I will be taking a huge break. This will allow me to narrow my focus to a few things: learning community, writing, and designing meditations. I do not want to depend on social media for dopamine and sense of connection anymore. I want to get it from the rest of the world.
I will be moving to a small island where everyone looks each other in the eye and smiles at each other when they see another person walking down the street.
It’s surrounded by endangered animals and I believe it is one of the last places of heaven left on earth.
If we are meant to enter into the “Age of Aquarius”, we must learn how to harness Aquarian energy, which means learning how to function in healthy group dynamics. I think in order to do this we must relearn the village mentality, where we connect and support one another with no fear; where we are able to show up and be there for one another in completely totality. No more gender, no more class, no more division, no more trauma and bias holding us back. This also means that we must be prepared to let go of our beliefs if they limit and segregate us in order to work with and understand the world around us. We must act in complete trust and openness.
I know this world exists on the internet – but I want to see it in real life too.
If none of our illusions are real this does not mean they are fake either, these are all parts of our learning hologram — these images we construct of ourselves in virtual and physical reality are all lessons in impermanence that we paint with stories of our own perceptions.
I think it’s possible that our ability to design our public image on the Internet may be a simulation of how the soul designs a human life on earth for it to learn its karmic lessons from. I talked about this a lot in my book.
I don’t know what is truth anymore. I often feel like now that I understand that the experience of bliss is merely just another altered state, the idea of a transcendent God has left me. I am back on earth. And there is a lot of work that needs to be done here.
“We must find out what is true in order in order to do what is right. The task of finding out what is true means the exploration of the experience of being human.” – Terrence McKenna
If you want to reach me feel free to email, [email protected]
And if you want to read more about my experience in transformation between dark and light, please buy my book.
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Andaman and Nicobar Information
Capital: Port Blair
Languages: Bengali, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Nicobarese, Telugu
Introduction to Andaman and Nicobar
The name of Andaman and Nicobar Islands brings to our mind an image of palm trees, white beaches, green forests, sound of waves breaking on a coral reef, and chirping rare birds. It has many islands, islets and rocks, It is also home to some of the oldest tribes in the country. Though facilities for trekking, diving and snorkeling are available here, the best way to enjoy a trip to these islands is simply relax by the sea.
Geography of Andaman and Nicobar
Andaman and Nicobar Islands are located between the latitudes 6° to 14° North and longitudes 92° to 94° East. Located in the Bay of Bengal, this group of 572 islands lies 193 km away from Cape Negrais in Myanmar, 1255 km from Calcutta, and 1190 km from Chennai.
The two important groups of islets are Ritchie's Archipelago and Labyrinth Islands. The Nicobar Islands are located to the south of the Andamans, 121 km from the Little Andaman Island. A cluster of total 572 islands, only 36 islands are inhabited.
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands comprise around 572 islands formed by a submarine mountain range, which separates the Bay of Bengal from the Andaman Sea. The islands attain maximum altitude at Saddle Peak (730 m), formed mainly of limestone, sandstone, and clay.
Brief History of Andaman and Nicobar
The documented history about Andaman and Nicobar is limited. It is believed that Marco Polo was among the first from the West to set foot on one of the islands. Kanhoji Angre, a Maratha admiral had his base on the island in the early 18th century. From there, he attacked passing Portuguese, Dutch and English merchant vessels on their way to or from their various Asian colonies.
In 1713, his navy even succeeded in capturing the yacht of the British Governor of Bombay. Despite many efforts by the British and later a joint military force of British and Portuguese naval forces, Kanhoji Angre was never defeated.
The British established their first colony in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in 1789, which was abandoned in 1796. The British finally annexed the islands in the 19th century adding them to their empire. They turned it into a penal colony for Indian freedom fighters.
The construction of the infamous Cellular Jail was completed in 1908. Hundreds of anti-British Indians were tortured to death or simply executed here. With the Second World War, Japanese troops occupied the islands and the local tribes initiated guerrilla activities to drive them out. When India achieved independence in 1947, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were incorporated into the Indian Union.
Government of Andaman and Nicobar
As a Union Territory, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is nominally under the direct control of the Indian Head of State. In practice, the position of Lt. Governor is appointed to directly administer the territory.
Economy of Andaman and Nicobar
The Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands has a vast forest resource base with 7,171 sq km of the total area of island covered by forests. A large variety of timber is found in the Andaman group of islands.
The Islands have reported the occurrence of diatomaceous earth, gold, limestone, nickel, selenite and sulphur. The Oil And Natural Gas Commission is continuing the exploration for oil and gas there.
The Union Territory has a number of small scale, village and handicrafts units. The number of export-oriented units is also increasing in the agro-processing sectors.
The Andaman and Nicobar Integrated Development Corporation has made its presence felt in civil supplies, tourism, fisheries, industries, and industrial financing activities. Around 50,000 hectares of land is under cultivation here.
Paddy is the main food crop and is mostly cultivated in the Andaman group of islands, whereas coconut and areca nut are the main cash crops of the Nicobar group of islands.
Different kinds of fruits such as mango, sapota, orange, banana, papaya, pineapple and some root crops are also grown on the islands.
Andaman and Nicobar Travel Information
On a trip to these islands, one should make sure to bring a lot of good books, some strong sun lotion, a hammock and snorkeling equipment.
Port Blair, the only sizable town on the islands, serves as the administrative capital. The center of the town is the lively Aberdeen Bazaar. Constructed entirely of wood, it has been razed to the ground several times in the past. However, every time, reconstruction was completed in no time and now it is as colorful as ever.
Port Blair is the only place to do some sightseeing. The major attraction here is the Cellular Jail, slowly being claimed back again by nature, overgrowing with plants and moss. Today, the jail is a memorial to the freedom fighters, who laid down their lives to make the country independent. The library here has some interesting books for those interested in knowing more about the indigenous tribes.
The Anthropological Museum displays some tools, dresses and photos. An interesting place is the Marine Museum, which covers the history and geography of the islands and the Fisheries Museum displays the rich marine life of the Andaman Sea.
Day trips from Port Blair offer various natural and historical excursions. One can either take a boat to Ross Island, the early administrative center of the British, or hike up Mount Harriet. Scuba diving is an option available in Wandoor, 30 km southwest of Port Blair.
The easiest accessible islands from the capital are Neil and Havelock. Small boats leave the Phoenix Bay Harbor four times a week to Havelock, usually docking at Neil on the way. One can be escorted by a school of dolphins or spot giant sea tortoise and flying fish. It is worth spending a few days on Neil. Basic accommodation is provided in the small settlement near the jetty. Havelock, lying north of Neil is one of the islands chosen by the government to turn into a luxurious tourist destination.
The coral reef here is still intact and is what makes snorkeling a great pleasure. Only the northern part of Havelock is populated.
Food of Andaman and Nicobar
Tribes of these islands were hunters till recently and some of them had not invented fire. Because of this reason no particular cuisine has developed in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Now, with increasing links with the developed worlds, the habitants are adopting their food habits too. Seafood is available in plenty and many restaurants serve fresh seafood.
Arts & Culture in Andaman and Nicobar
The emphasis of the government on progress and its encouragement to the mainlanders to settle there has resulted in the local tribes becoming a minority group in their own land.
The indigenous tribes are distinguished in two groups: the Onge, Sentinelese, Jarawa and Andamanese of Negroid descent living on the Andaman Islands and the Shompen and Nicobarese of Mongoloid descent living in the Nicobar Islands.
Most of the tribes are on the verge of extinction. This sad destiny will most likely hit the Andamanese tribe first since their number is as low as thirty. The Sentinelese is the least studied tribe still living in isolation on the North Sentinel Island. Their number is estimated at 250. Outsiders attempting to make contact with them are driven away with bows and arrows. They continue to maintain a unique lifestyle living in harmony with nature just as they have done for thousands of years.
The main crafts of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands include shell and exotic woods crafted for the tourists, palm mats, and beautiful natural shells. Due to the fear of over exploitation of the Islands' natural resources, trade of some products is now banned.
Festivals of Andaman and Nicobar
The islanders celebrate most of the festivals of the mainland due to the influence of the external society and the development that has taken place.
Major festivals are Durga Puja, Pongal, Panguni Uthiram, and Onam. Other important festivals are Mahashivaratri, Janmashtami, Holi, Diwali, Christmas, Good Friday, etc.
The Island Tourism Festival is celebrated every year for 15 days between December and February in Port Blair. Dance performances from the troupes residing in different islands are organized.
One of the major attractions at this festival is the Andaman Dog Show. Being far removed from the present civilization, the aboriginal people did not wear any clothes till recently. The Sentinelese do not wear anything even now while the Jarawas use only adornments of bark and shell, like necklaces, arm bands, waist bands etc.
The Shompens are semi nomadic and cover their body below the waist only. The people of Car Nicobar Island have totally given up the traditional dress of tassel or coconut leaf petticoat and now wear modern clothes.
The Onges survived without dress for centuries but have gradually adapted to the dress code of the mainland. Use of traditional items of adornment like necklaces made of shell, waistbands and headbands of bark fiber are now restricted to ceremonial occasions.
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“My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh.” (Proverbs. 4:20-22 NKJV).
The Bible is the inspired Word of God. It is supreme and inerrant. It is the authoritative and dynamic revelation of God’s nature, character, will, plans and purposes.
The Bible offers you immense blessings; however, until you unwrap and open it, read and study it, mediate and act upon it, believe and obey it you cannot know, understand, appropriate and experience its inherent power and blessings.
Let us consider some of the huge blessings God’s Word offers us.
First, the Word of God gives Life:
The Word of God is an incorruptible seed which produces the life of Christ in the believers. The Word of God is living; it is spirit and life. It quickens, revives and regenerates.
The Lord Jesus testifies to this truth in John 6:
63 The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. (NKJV).
Paul also testifies to this truth in Hebrews 4:
12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (NKJV).
The Psalmist also testifies to this truth in Psalms 119:
93 I will never forget Your precepts, for by them You have given me life. (NKJV).
Therefore, Solomon admonishes us in Proverbs 4:
20 My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings.
21 Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart;
22 For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh. (NKJV).
Second, the Word of God Sanctifies, Purifies and Renews the Mind:
The Word of God is like a fire that consumes the dross in the minds of those who wholly and humbly receive, believe and apply its truths.
The Word of God is like a hammer that breaks or casts down strongholds, imaginations, arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God in the minds of those who constantly imbibe its truths (2 Cor. 10:3-5).
God queries through Jeremiah in Jeremiah 23:
29 Is not My word like a fire?” says the LORD, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? (NKJV).
The Word of God is also like spiritual water that cleanses and washes away spiritual dirt and filth from the soul that receives, believes and applies its teachings (1 Tim. 4:5).
Paul points out this truth in Ephesians 5:
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,
26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,
27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. (NKJV).
The Lord Jesus said to His disciples in John 15:
3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. (NKJV).
Jesus also prayed for His disciples, saying, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” (John 17:17 NKJV).
Third, the Word of God imparts Divine Wisdom and Understanding:
The Word of God is like a lamp giving light, illumination, direction and guidance to those who humbly receive, believe and live by its teachings or instructions (Deut. 4:5-6, 2 Tim. 3:15-17).
The Psalmist testifies to this truth in Psalms 119:
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (NKJV).
130 The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple. (NKJV).
God’s Word imparts divine wisdom to the humble soul that obeys its injunctions and follows its instructions.
98 You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; for they are ever with me.” (NKJV).
Moses admonishes the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 4:
5 “Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess.
6 “Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. (NKJV).
Fourth, the Word of God supplies Divine Nourishment for Spiritual Growth:
The Word of God is like pure milk and food supplying spiritual nutrients for healthy spiritual growth and releasing spiritual strength and grace to overcome trials, temptations and challenges of life to those who humbly receive and wholly believe its truths (Heb. 5:12-14, Psa. 119:28).
Therefore Peter admonishes us in 1 Peter 2:
1 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking,
2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby. (NKJV).
Fifth, the Word of God brings Hope, Comfort and Joy:
In times of trials and tribulations, the Word of God gives peace, hope, comfort and joy to all who turn to it, and receive and believe what it says.
16 Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts. (NKJV).
165 Great peace have those who love Your law, And nothing causes them to stumble. (NKJV).
Sixth, the Word of God prepares and equips for Good Works:
The Word of God thoroughly prepares and equips for every good work the heart that delights in it and diligently studies it (Acts 18:24-28).
2 Timothy 3:
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. (NKJV).
Therefore, Paul’s admonition in 2 Timothy 2:
15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
16 But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. (NKJV).
1 Timothy 4:
13 Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
14 Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.
15 Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.
16 Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you. (NKJV).
Seventh, the Word of God is a Spiritual Weapon of Warfare:
The Word of God is the Sword of the Spirit in the hands of those who know, believe, confess, apply, and act upon the truths and revelation knowledge of God’s Word (Heb. 4:12, 2 Cor. 10:3-6).
This is why Paul admonishes you to “take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Eph. 6:17 NKJV).
What should you do to experience and partake in all these tremendous and wonderful blessings inherent in God’s Word?
Delight in God’s Word and read it prayerfully and systematically (1 Tim. 4:13, Psa. 119:70).
Search and study God’s Word diligently (John 5:39, Acts 17:11).
Meditate on God’s Word and memorize it (Jos. 1:8, Psa. 119:11, 97).
Sing, pray, and confess God’s Word (Col. 3:16. Neh. 1:8).
Preach and teach God’s Word (Deut. 6:6-9, 2 Tim. 4:2).
Buy and give out Bible as gift to people (Prov. 23:23. 1 John 3:17).
Believe it, obey it and act upon God’s Word (1 Thess. 2:13, Jam. 1:21-25).
Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th U.S. President, openly said, “A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.”
Thomas Jefferson, the third U.S. President, said, “I have always said and always will say that the studious perusal of the Sacred Volume will make better citizens, better fathers, better husbands . . . the Bible makes the best people in the world.”
Ronald Reagan, the 40th U.S. President, said, “Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face.”
Daniel Webster (1782-1852), American statesman and political leader, said, “If we abide by the principles taught by the Bible, our country will go on prospering.”
Horace Greeley (1811-1872), the famous 18th-century newspaper editor and reformer, said, “It is impossible to mentally or socially enslave a Bible-reading people.”
Sir Francis Bacon, known as the father of the scientific method, wrote: “There are two books laid before us to study, to prevent our falling into error; first, the volume of Scriptures, which reveal the will of God, then the volume of the Creatures [Creation], which express His power.”
What do you say about the Bible?
Prayer: My Dear Heavenly Father, I receive grace today to be a diligent reader and doer of Your Word so that I may know, understand, appropriate, experience and enjoy its inherent power and blessings to the full, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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Last Updated on July 20, 2022 by Pamela
Finding the best croissants in Québec is a worthy quest. One I wholeheartedly embrace. The perfect croissant is buttery and flakey and airy and the epitome of breakfast sophistication.
A food obsession that can, at times, border on the ridiculous.
Can one die from eating too many croissants? Will your arteries slowly close until your blood is down to a trickle and send you into cardiac arrest? Heart attacks are awful (my dad had a major one when I was 12 years old, it was a scary time, and thankfully he survived), but, at the same time, a part of me romanticizes that death by croissant-fueled debauchery would be a fine way to go.
I mean, how could one not love croissants?
a brief history…
Inspired by kipfel, a crescent-shaped baked treat made with plenty of butter or lard in Austria, the arrival of croissants in France is somewhat obscure. Some say they were introduced by Marie-Antoinette, who missed baked goods from her homeland, Austria. Others say they were first introduced almost a century before that.
Honestly, we will likely never know who the first person was to bring the croissant to France.
References to croissants, however, begin to appear in France in the 19th-century when they found their way into fancy Viennese bakeries in Paris. The first of these being a bakery located at 92, rue Richelieu (in the 2nd Arrondissement), owned by Austrian, August Zang, in 1838.
Zang created mouth-watering window displays, and placed ads in Paris newspapers, and it didn’t take long for his bakery to become a go-to spot for Viennese breads and baked goods. His steam baking (steam was injected into the oven as his breads cooked) gave his creations a flakier and thinner crust, and moist insides. It was revolutionary and helped transform French baking.
Of course, as with most food crazes, imitators began popping up throughout Paris. Zang, after only a few years, sold his bakery and returned to Austria where he founded a newspaper, and according to some sources, tried to hide the fact that he was a baker. Meanwhile, in Paris, the croissant was slowly making its way into French culture.
The fact that Zang wanted to hide his baker days is hilariously stupid. Not at all surprising.
By the 1870s, the croissant was a breakfast queen (yes, in French croissant is masculine, but seriously, it should be feminine). Even Charles Dickens loved them.
A hundred or so years later, croissants were commercialized and simplified by companies like Sara Lee who mass-produced croissant dough and sold frozen croissants that could bake at home. Croissants became the vehicles for sandwiches, breakfast and otherwise. Pillsbury sold them in tubes. They’re on drive-thru menus at McDonald’s, Burger King, Tim Hortons, and more.
While I can be a snob and roll my eyes at the trope of Americanized foods, the reality is that it’s how I became aware of the existence of croissants.
My obsession, however, began in Paris.
french croissants = love
I have been to Paris a handful of times, always staying in the same area of Montmartre, in the 18th Arrondissement. Every morning I would go on a short walk to the boulangerie at 48, rue Caulaincourt. Now known as Boulangerie Boris Lumé, the boulangerie is historical monument built in the 1900s, its Belle Époque façade reads “Boulangerie Pâtisserie du Moulin de la Galette” in golden script.
The boulangerie is stunning, with its chandeliers, ornate ceiling, display cases of delicate French pastries, and baskets of freshly baked goods.
I still remember my first croissant from that boulangerie. The flakey crust and the light buttery inside. The way my mouth swooned over its layered richness, savouring every last morsel.
This wasn’t a commercially made croissant with its kind-of crunchy exterior and often dry bread-like interior. This croissant was made with the best of ingredients: fine flour, sugar and salt, lots of cold butter, and fresh milk. The dough was rolled and shaped and baked with tenderness, thought, and, well, love.
To put it simply, French croissants are love.
searching for the best croissants in québec city
As with Paris, I can remember the first delicious croissant I enjoyed in Québec City. It was at Paillard on rue, Saint-Jean in Old Québec. I was in the city for 3 days, it was 2013, and my first time in Québec City. The croissant was flakey and buttery and divine.
When I moved to the city a few months later (yes, I fell in love, hard), I lived around the corner and visited Paillard often. Usually just after they opened at 7 am when everything was fresh, and there were not very many people inside.
In time, I learned that I could enjoy their croissants at La Maison Smith, a café in Place-Royale (there are now several in the city), and that became my go-to spot for croissant indulgence.
Everywhere I go, I try the croissants. Most are good, and some “claim” they are fresh, but I can tell when I’ve been given heated up day-old croissant.
I sound snobbish, I know. I’m okay with that.
Four years ago, however, I stumbled upon Praline et Chocolat at Marché du Vieux-Port on a bright summer morning. I was feeling peckish and bought a croissant, then sat at a picnic table behind the marché to watch the birds flying around in the marina and slowly eat.
I was ass-over-tea kettle from the first bite. I kid you not.
The outer crust was crunchy and flakey, while the inside was soft with buttery layers that melted in my mouth.
I swear, I moaned with each bite, and I wasn’t quiet about it. Every bite transported me back to the boulangerie on rue Caulaincourt in Paris.
praline et chocolat
Ludovic Vault, the pastry chef and owner of Praline et Chocolat, hails from a small village near Montcontour du Poitou in the Poitou-Charentes region in centre-west France. Arriving in Québec in 2003, Vault along with his wife, Mélanie Dion, renovated their garage in Château Richer in 2005, turning it into a pâtisserie shop where they would bake their creations and sell at Marché de Vieux-Port.
Where I would come to appreciate their talent and hours of dedication to all things delicious and decadent. The croissants were popular. If you didn’t show up before 11am, you were out of luck. When I had my 10-year-old niece, along with the 12-year-old daughters of a couple of friends exploring Québec with me in 2017, I brought them to the marché for a croissant breakfast. They swooned too.
Sadly, in 2018 Marché du Vieux-Port closed its doors, and while several of the vendors opened up at the new Le Grand Marché de Québec, Praline et Chocolat did not.
I was crushed.
Until I took a lazy drive along Avenue Royale and spotted Praline et Chocolat’s tiny pâtisserie in Château Richer.
Instead of moving to Le Grand Marché in 2018, Vault decided to renovate his tiny pâtisserie shop, adding sales counters filled with sweet and savoury delights. While there is a sign at the curb, it is easy to miss the pâtisserie and keep driving – I have done this way too many times.
On summer mornings, the two parking spots in the font are usually full, with cars parked on the side of the narrow road, hazard lights flashing. A sign that goodness could be found inside. A treat that I wholeheartedly indulge in whenever I would rent a car and drive out to Charlevoix (it is on the way).
My love and adoration for Praline et Chocolat, however, has become an obsession during the COVID-19 pandemic. A part of my life from the before times (pre-COVID) that I truly love. Where I once stopped by if I was in the neighbourood, I now purposely drive to Château Richer every time I rent a car, even if I am just doing errands in the city.
Yes, I drive 25 kms, one way, for croissants. Hell, I even rent a car with the purpose of going to Praline et Chocolat and then try to come up with other things to do to justify the expense in my brain.
Now when I show up, always in a different car, like a criminal, I buy 6 croissants. Yes, six. Yes, I live alone. Yes, I eat all of them!
I eat the first one in the driveway as I am baking out. I’m not even joking. I eat the next one about 3 minutes later and nearly orgasm myself into a car accident. I eat the other four throughout the day (sometimes I have one left for the next morning when the bag is all greasy, and it is still good).
I buy other things as well. Tarts, or chocolates. The baguettes are fabulous, and the quiche is divine (I pretty much eat it whole with a fork. I’m English, and therefore, I am a heathen). He makes this chocolate and pear square croissant pastry thing, that I clearly forget the proper name of, which is rich and insanely yummy. I sometimes buy two of those as well.
As far as I am concerned, Praline et Chocolat has the best croissants in Québec. You should definitely try them.
NOTE: In 2015, Vault and his wife opened a crèmerie and pâtisserie in Saint-Émile, which is about a 20-minute drive from Old Québec City.
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Sewage backup water would possibly not be discolored and smell’s, however, it is always pathogenic necessitating specialized cleanup. AllStates Restoration specializes in flood restoration of high-risk environments and knows how to employ the necessary steps to protect your family and property.
Sump Pump Backup Water Restoration Hopatcong
Often following a heavy rainfall, homes may experience a sump pump malfunction that allows an uncontrolled water table and ground water can go in in through the sump well, floor joint and cracks in concrete floor.
When carpet and pad gets wet there are certain methods that must be adhered to if detailed clean up is to be achieved. AllStates Restoration is well versed in all water damage management and is a certified firm in the State of New Jersey.
Sump water is alive with microorganisms, bacteria, fungi, molds and dirt. These living microorganisms simply need a brief time period of time to amplify and develop a awfully pungent smell. Upon arrival, our experts use moisture meter technology to determine which materials are dry and which materials are wet and require services. Property insurance may or may not cover this type of water damage emergency. Call AllStates Restoration and we can navigate you through the often confusing world of coverage.
Common Queries about Water Damage Restoration in 07843
My Hopatcong basement has water damage in it, what should I do?
When a basement in Northern NJ, Hopatcong or anywhere has water anywhere on the surface water removal is definitely an immediate need as the longer it stays soaked the more damage it makes.
The primary step to take when working with with a wet basement is to ensure nothing electric has touched water; water and electricity pose a risk towards an electrical shock or fire Without touching anything, wisely look to see if water has come into contact with anything electrical and call an expert to secure the environment if it has.
AllStates Restoration is on call for such water damage emergency cleanup and use a master electrician who are able to evaluate and secure the environment in any water damaged home.
The second step is to try to determine where the source for water infiltration into your home is. Managing this step is generally not to difficult and can be accomplished with a systematic approach. But if your basement has a sump-pump check the water level in the well to see if it is higher than normal. If you have any drain pipes in the basement see if they are holding water and or backing up. Listen for the noise of running water that can identify a burst water pipe, water heater burst or malfunctioning appliance. If you discover running water right away locate the main shut off and close valve.
My sump pump has stopped working and my basement is flooded, should I call a local water restoration company or a local plumber?
You could need both. AllStates Restoration in Hopatcong North Jersey 07843 has a plumber on call 24/7 and is familiar with replacing the bad sump-pump with a new one as well as assuring you’ve got the correct size. From time to time calling a plumber first is not a good idea since plumbers in general are not willing to work in an environment where there is standing water.
Normally they’ll request the water be removed first. If however, they are prepared, once the pump is replaced you still have a wet basement needing water damage clean up and will now have to make a call to a water damage restoration company.
Calling AllStates Restoration first will assure you have a headache free experience as we can supervise every part of the water damage from the plumbing repairs and cleanup to the insurance claim.
If my basement water drains by completely, do I still need a professional water damage restoration company?
If the floor drains eventually let the water to strain from your flooded basement, you will still need clean-up, evaluation and drying of wet materials that only specialized water restoration companies can provide.
We remove water, clean all contaminated floors, disinfect with anti-microbial cleaner and can get rid of excessive moisture to avert smells and the potential for mold growth. Also, it is it is necessary to figure out why your basement flooded to begin with and examine drains for any issue, otherwise it is sure to be repeated after the next heavy rain storm.
My basement is flooded and starting to smell, how much time till I get water damage or mold damage?
Water continues to damage the home environment so long as it is present; the likelihood of developing visible mold can occur in the short span of 48-72 hours. Water should be removed as quickly as possible and decontamination of all surfaces should begin the initial 24 hours after a water leak.
In Hopatcong, Sussex Co. NJ Contents like; flooded carpet, carpet pad, wood, ceramic tile and sheetrock, should be evaluated for potential mold and many times these materials need to be removed from the home and replaced. If your home has experienced water damage and your carpet and rug is smell, it is a sure sign of microbial amplification and anti-microbial specialty agents are required. Carpets may be beyond being restored as well.
Water Damage Restoration Hopatcong / Flood Damage Clean-up, Water Extraction and Restoration
- Roof Leak Water Damage Restoration Service Hopatcong
- Burst Hot Water Heater Water Damage Cleanup Hopatcong
- Hard-Wood Floor Water Damage Restoration Service Hopatcong, North Jersey
- Tile Water Damage Restoration Service Hopatcong Northern NJ
- Basement Water Damage Clean-up Hopatcong NJ
Hopatcong Water Damage Tips
Structural & Contents Cleaning Services
As a full fire/water damage restoration we provide Contents Pack-Out, Storage and Cleaning services. We have designed advanced procedure in which we carefully restore and transport your residential or commercial contents damaged by fire, smoke, water and mold. At our state of the art facility in the New Jersey area, we salvage, clean, repair and restore your contents. Whenever your restoration and reconstruction job is complete, we will deliver your restored contents back to your place.
24-hour Water, Fire, Mold, Storm Damage Restoration Services
- Fire Damage Cleanup Hopatcong Northern NJ
- Smoke Odor Removal Hopatcong
- Mold Removal Service Hopatcong New Jersey
- Mold Testing and Inspection Hopatcong NJ
- Restoration Equipment Rental Hopatcong Northern NJ
We’ve got crews ready 24/7 to dispatch on-to your property in our New Jersey, New York service area for water damage and mold cleanup, dryout and repair. Call us now at 732-722-5211 for a FREE inspection and estimate. We handle all water damage restoration professionally, and guarantee all of our cleaning and restoration services.
To schedule Hopatcong Water Damage Restoration Inspection Appointment, Call (973)988-1222 or click here.
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If you understand who you’re in search of, you’ll be able to search immediately by username. When viewing individual profiles, Einkamál may even show you profiles “You can also have an interest in…”. You can upload photos and select your pursuits, choosing between hobbies like journey, food and wine, films, golf and extra. You can also enter your top and weight, eye and hair color, and alter your site preferences, age, sexual choice and placement. If you’re unsure what you ought to be asking about—or even how to ask it—we’ve obtained you covered.
Working as an online chat operator on this platform can earn you as a lot as $18 per hour. As being one of the biggest adult chat operators in the US, the corporate has very strict insurance policies in phrases of flirting online safely and sharing non-explicit texting. You can earn $0.20 for every message you reply to with payments made via PayPal accounts. You earn by texting and replying to shoppers by way of typed messages solely and not by way of phone calls or webcams. Whether you are booking your next huge getaway or planning a final minute journey, here are the best apps and sites for travelers.
However, it does have a selection of public chat rooms for meeting new people, discussing topics, and stuff like that. You can discover chats for mainly anything or you’ll have the ability to create your individual and folks will be a part of eventually . The in-app purchases are for things like the regular cellphone name charges and sticker packs. These discussion boards should not be confused with senior relationship sites. The relationship web sites cater to people who are looking for a relationship. Members are on the lookout for new methods to satisfy individuals who share comparable pursuits. For occasion, some may be in search of a romantic relationship, while others are interested in a simple online connection.
- Once you want someone’s profile, you probably can instantly hit your shot by sending them text messages.
- With that stated — if you’re ready to give on-line dating a shot, listed below are a few teen-friendly choices.
- Mocospace is another friendly smartphone application for chatting with anonymous strangers.
- Another commonest drawback with these chat rooms is that they are never monitored rigorously and neither encrypted.
- Prepare your self for this query in advance by excited about how a lot you might be snug sharing together with your children.
Finding totally different folks for video match each single day just isn’t an infinite task with this app. Chat with Girls is a social video chat app that lets you meet new people from everywhere in the world. With this app, you probably can simply chat with ladies with out… Our community reporting system helps make certain that people chatting on Camsurf are following our phrases of use.
Nameless Adult Chat & Courting App Notifications Are Not Working Correctly
Usually, users state what their dating objectives are and their private preferences, and then essentially the most appropriate matches are suggested to one another. Thus, it’s going to prevent camskip.com precious time by allowing you to skip the dreaded ‘talking stage’. While some predators may ask you for private data, others may stalk you and have a look at your public profiles to get information about you.
Ultimate Thoughts On Tips On How To Discuss To Your Children About Sex
You can work from anywhere you want, at any time of the day that works for you. Plus, there are a number of different firms which would possibly be always hiring, so there are a lot of opportunities for you to find the perfect work-from-home chat job for you. Users of this sport are often adults who need to create a brand new experience for themselves and join with hundreds of thousands of people the world over via some fun methods and chats.
Whats The Attraction Of An Nameless Chat Room? Must You Use One?
Thirteen participants rated themselves as novices in at least one of many applied sciences concerned. For a more thorough description of the method, see (Brandt et al., 2009b). Whether you’re parked at the grill, on your 3rd plate, getting trampled in the bouncy house, or arriving fashionable late- you do not need to miss this Queer Trans Cookout. This is important since you need to be there on your website guests always.
It does ask a couple questions on whether or not you have children at home and if you’ve been married before, however it would be good if the test was a smidge extra targeted to an older audience. For instance, a question like, “Would you want to have extra kids?” is a consideration that’s a lot different SilverSingles users than say, Match and even eharmony users. The site’s claim to fame is that 82 percent of members are school grads . This is the place for people who have hit a snug stride professionally and at the moment are pursuing a associate who’s on the same level of their life. The great part about online dating is that it provides you the prospect to meet a complete pool of individuals you wouldn’t otherwise.
That is why you should never send somebody money which you have met online, but you could have by no means met before in actual life. You should exercise plenty of caution if you want to spend time in chat rooms. It’s one thing to say one thing to somebody in that context, however till you set a face to a name, you’ll never know if they’re actually who they declare to be. The first chat room was created in 1971 by the us authorities. It was the brainchild of Murray Turoff, a Ph.D. graduate from Berkeley. This system, referred to as EMISARI, allowed ten regional workplaces to affix together for real-time on-line chat, which was called a celebration line. This model of the chat room, which right now can be seen as somewhat primitive, was solely used in an official capability.
Azar moreover enables you to embrace pals that are new your contact listing as you’ll find a way to speak to anytime. Another exciting thing is it simple to interact with individuals from other international locations that it supports the real-time translation of voice messages, thus breaking the language barrier and making. Even probably the most secure on-line dating sites are more probably to have incomplete or suspicious profiles. While it’s advisable to report suspicious accounts to the site’s admin team, avoiding them altogether can even work. With over 35 million customers worldwide, it’s almost unimaginable to not find a match with Zoosk. This courting site isn’t exclusive to these over 50, however plenty of folks in that age bracket use it.
They have been a remote-first company since they started in 2007, so they’re arrange completely to help work-at-home chat operators. PrestoExpertsis extra than just on-line chat; they are a web-based guide. The firm has greater than 30,000 registered specialists in over 600 categories, and so they provide skilled providers for businesses and people. Just as with the opposite jobs, you’re serving to to reply questions, be solution-oriented, and deliver pleasant service. Smith.aiis just what you’d count on for a contemporary digital buyer care company. They supply virtual receptionist jobs in addition to messaging & chat positions too. Kelley pays based on knowledge, skills, experience, and efficiency.
Whats The Best Courting Site For A Serious Relationship?
Sites like Facebook and YouTube are always open on our telephones. Twitter is the go-to platform for all information tweets from News Channels, Celebrities and brands. Can you think about life taking place with out using social media? The app has plenty of bells and whistles – whenever you win a recreation, it sticks a crown on your head.
With the help of the site, you can easily attain thousands of customers with only one click on of a button. Along with free textual content chat, you ought to use Holla free of charge video and voice calls as properly. The best characteristic that I favored about Holla is that it hides your face on a video call until the opposite person’s face isn’t seen.
10 Of 12:get Deep With A Private Question
For instance, 7 Cups expenses $150 per thirty days, while eTherapyPro expenses $30 per session. Other platforms might cost kind of depending on what they offer, however there are usually a handful of choices. Regardless of the prices, on-line therapy chat costs less than in-person remedy, which might range as a lot as $250 per hour. BlahTherapy offers therapy chat providers with professional counselors or other anonymous individuals which would possibly be just like you. New sufferers can take a survey to get matched with the suitable therapist for his or her psychological health needs. EHarmony has the best success rate among all of the senior courting sites. You’ll be shocked to be taught that each 14 minutes, one eHarmony person finds love through the location.
You won’t be charged a penny for becoming a member of the chat rooms. Which websites do they frequently go to and waste their time on? If you see that they often visit online chat sites, then all you bought to do is block these sites and maintain your child protected. Now, think about how many people can be utilizing this app to speak with different individuals.
This platform works very equally to Rent a Local Friend (it’s hard to tell which firm copied the other). To help determine which English-teaching platform is best for you, see our Cambly vs. italki comparability showdown. That mentioned, should you do have credentials, you might also become a Professional Teacher for iTalki to earn higher charges. This requires both a TEFL certificates, a educating license for the language you want to educate, or work experience educating the language. In fact, some sites pay you to easily have informal conversations with students learning English around the globe.
Start immediate video chats and call classes everytime you want. Find new folks, match with them, and begin the video chat. Gaze is mainly a mobile video chat app, which means you probably can all the time maintain associated together with your mates and potential matches. When you wish to chat with strangers, the app offers instant video matches. Holla supplies the standard options similar to Omegle, and it pretty much offers every factor you want to start random video chats with strangers. However, Holla has one advantage over Omegle – you probably can get hold of matches in your smartphone any time, anyplace.
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Large and constant income of financial flows should be followed by increasing the level of security of the finance. That will ensure far more confidence for our investors, secure their deposits to the utmost, and let us put all the efforts upon achieving the maximum business profitability. We give the best and the most reliable profit to the investment world. We can claim that you are investing in the right place. Your asset safety is our main concern, and we guarantee that your investment will be safe with us.
There are so many such HYIP schemes, so if you really want to get going, then you must focus on HYIP monitors as I had done it, when I was using them. Using such monitors helps me to understand in deep about my investment, and how is it getting processed as well. So if you have ever invested on these programmes, then it is better to moniter what is happening to your investment. So this will help you to track and stay updated about this, so that you will not be cheated by anybody.
Ok Bit Hour LTD is focused on regular investors, helps them to use the ever-changing new cryptocurrency market of reverse investment with the help of Blockchain.Our team is highly qualified with operations with cryptocurrencies and digital assets in general.Through algorithms developed we are able to identify the best options for buying / selling. Usually investors with crypto currencies want to find the best methods and the use of their cryptocurrency reserves of various resources in order to secure the effect of the constant fluctuations of cryptocephaline. As with all investment portfolios, the best way to ensure stability against market volatility is to diversify the investor's portfolio. Our direction is to close the gap between the part of the flow market and investors by making simple, clear payment plans and ensuring an established return on each investment component of our resource.So users do not need to worry about different ICOS, but they should rely on our resource and not worry, knowing that we will work for their benefit.
You’ll find many posts in the internet where people are angry and complain about those Bitcoin HYIP scams because they ran away with their money. But honestly, those guys simply hadn’t understood in advance what high yield investment programs are. They are simply a game – yes, a ponzi scheme, a scam, you can call them as you want – but they are basically games which run for an individual unknown lifetime. This runtime depends on how many people jump on the train, meaning how many people make new deposits every day.
It's a little awkward, so we'll get straight to the point: This Thursday we humbly ask you to protect Wikipedia's independence. We depend on donations averaging about $16.36, but 99% of our readers don't give. If everyone reading this gave $3, we could keep Wikipedia thriving for years to come. The price of your Thursday coffee is all we need. When we made Wikipedia a non-profit, people warned us we'd regret it. But if Wikipedia became commercial, it would be a great loss to the world. Wikipedia is a place to learn, not a place for advertising. It unites all of us who love knowledge: contributors, readers and the donors who keep us thriving. The heart and soul of Wikipedia is a community of people working to bring you unlimited access to reliable, neutral information. Please take a minute to help us keep Wikipedia growing. Thank you.
BixProut Limited a brand of Tara-Sitara Borthers was founded by a team of individuals comprising of experts from the banking, finance and technology sectors, which are multi-billion dollars industries, in 2018. Until the birth of BixProut Limited, we have always been a group (Tara-Sitara Bros) of independent traders as far as financial market is concerned; however, coming together has seen our kn...
HourCycles project is a product of careful preparation and fruitful work of experts in the field of Cryptocurrency mining, highly profitable trade in cryptocurrencies and online marketing. Using modern methods of doing business and a personal approach to each client, we offer a unique investment model to people who want to use Cryptos not only as a method of payment, but also as a reliable source...
Reliance on e-currency sites. Virtually all HYIP sites require you to open an "e-currency" account from one of a number of online vendors that service the HYIP market. Be aware that while there is currently no federal regulation of e-currency sites, many states require "money transmitters" to register with the state’s banking regulator. An unlicensed e-currency site is a red flag.
Now you understand the reason why some Bitcoin HYIP monitor websites observe those HYIP sites showing the runtimes in a daily actualized list. So people can estimate more easily if it might make sense to still invest or not as they can see how old the project already is. Because it happens that participants just get too late into the program’s life cycle and then of course don’t get their principal plus profit back.
Hour Cryto LTD provides various services related to placing your deposits in Bitcoin arbitrage & trading markets that brings high profits in a relatively short time. Funds invested in our company are used both to trade on the Bitcoin trading & arbitrage markets and to participate in the other financial activities. The company has been operating since 2009, but the legal aspects pushed it to the official registration in August 2017.
Looking for highest returns on your Bitcoin investments? pro-income.com is an automatic online investment platform, part of Pro Income Limited UK – team of professional traders focusing mainly on Bitcoin trading over multiple Exchanges and markets. Thanks to the extraordinary diversification of our investments, we are able to deliver steady income for our investors.
Even though HYIPs could be high risk investments there is a way to make money off them. It is a high risk high profit scenario. The working period of a HYIP can be divided into three parts. The HYIP is launched and investors start investing. The operator pays the promised percentage on his loss, by paying out of his pocket. Now, the HYIP is getting popular and attracting more investors. The operator gains more profit than the amount he has to pay daily. Since more people have invested, the operator now needs to pay more and also new investments are slowing down. Hence, this is the point of maximum earnings for the operator, so he shuts down the website and runs away.
BTCMANAGER is actively engaged in the search and financial monitoring of all kinds of investment companies and online projects. BTCMANAGER reminds its readers that any financial companies offering high-yield investments with quick cryptocurrency earnings in a short time carry a potential risk of losing money. We recommend that you only invest as much as you can afford to lose. The inclusion of a company or project on this page is for information purposes only and is not necessarily an endorsement or recommendation. Investors participate at their own risk.
But the most important question is 'Does a HYIP really pay?' and the correct answer is YES! but, not all investors will be in profit, even some investors may lose 100% of his investment. It's not uncommon to find a HYIP which is paying from more than 6 months or 1+ year and many of investors has paid by those. Unfortunately, some HYIP don't pay from the very first day so it's important to choose a HYIP wisely.
WELCOME TO THE REDWOOD SUPPLIER (UK) LIMITED The Redwood Supplier (UK) LTD is one of the largest Wood processing companies, delivering the wood from Finland to Europe. We have been servicing our clients since 1995 and we are expanding our market share to this day. Our exclusive location brings us an opportunity to work with clients anywhere from the coast of the Norwegian Sea to the shores of We...
Our program is intended for people willing to achieve their financial freedom but unable to do so because they're not financial experts. Depositcase.biz is a long term high yield private loan program, backed up by Forex market trading and investing in various funds and activities. Profits from these investments are used to enhance our program and increase its stability for the long term.
To many crypto savants, the modern political scene, which promotes centralization and censorship in some cases, is far from a topic of importance. But, as Tuesday’s U.S. midterm poll results have started to roll in, the ears of cryptocurrency enthusiasts have metaphorically perked up, as it was unexpectedly divulged that pro-Bitcoin/crypto politicians have been sworn into … Continue reading U.S. Midterms: Bitcoin-Friendly Politicians Elected in Colorado, California
GURU FINANCE - a successful trader in the market of crypto-currency assets. We have assembled a team of highly qualified traders with rich experience in various areas of trading. Thanks to careful analysis, own experience and enthusiasm of the team, a trading robot was created, tested and now successfully used for trading on international crypto-exchange exchanges. We have proved by our work and ...
We have been working more than one year and stably pay Bitcoins. But we all understand that such a freebie can not continue for a lot of time and this flaw will be found and corrected in the near future, but until that happens, we want to win as much as possible. That is why we have launched this website, where you can make an investment and we will multiply it twenty times. Half of this money we will give to you, it means that your investment will be returned to you hundredfold in the next 24 hours.
Investing money always has been and will be relevant as there is our material world. Not lose its relevance and the question: "Where to invest?", Because you can find a huge amount of overt scams that are just waiting for the right moment among the numerous bona fide investment projects to usurp your money. It is to ensure that you have always been in profit we have created monitoring HYIP GQMonitor projects. Investing in the Internet - a profitable but very risky venture. We will tell you what others are silent and will help you find HYIPs that pay.
Many money making sites are there who promises you to increase your funds by investing in their plans. But Home - Roiforex is the most reliable platform for you if you want to improve your funds by spending a very small amount. They offer amazing investment plans as well as their website is DDOS Protected so you can invest without any worries. They are providing a good return on your small investment, 15% Daily For 30 days and 7% referral commission. You can earn a huge amount with a minimum deposition of $10.00. So, if you really want to earn without being ditched invest in their plans. Or we can say, invest with the best.
Yeah. I checked it through Wikipedia. Here, I realized HYIP is one type of High risk program. But, I found the exact solution to reduce the risk. Nowadays, you can accept as true who run a HYIP site with the bitcoin HYIP script. Also, this site must have a bitcoin gateway to transfer your money. Accordingly, the bitcoin is supportive to save you from scam.
TrustHourDeposit Ltd came into being in 2007 following the rapid global growth of Bitcoin and associated crypto-currency markets. As investors’ ambitions grew, we recognized the need for a platform that matched their lofty expectations,serving the investors with the best returns in the market,We will preserve focus on the most traded currency – Bitcoin. It became the first decentralized peer-to-peer payment network for using without any central authority or middlemen. In a nutshell, bitcoin is the money for Internet. Its original purpose is providing all people with universal currency for different operations. Bitcoin can also be described as the most prominent triple entry bookkeeping system in existence.
I have been reading about HYIP, and this basically means High Yielding Investment Programmes and they are schemes or programmes which focuses on those potential investors promising them high returns. They usually end up taking away money from new investors and pay it to the old investors, finally defrauding most of the investors and cheating them up, after a short period of time.
BetCoin Limited is a company founded in 2013 that implements blockchain technology on gambling markets. Our company is the world leader in the area of modern solutions for the online gambling and betting industry. We provide professional software, process payments, and ensure financing for our partners. Become a part of the fastest growing industry in the world and benefit from our profitable investment system.
CoinZinc is a registered company in the United Kingdom, our main business is to cryptocurrency trading and Bitcoin mining industry, our engineers and experts will design accurate trading plans to meet customer profit requirements every day. Our team already work on trading since 2013, Coinzinc will also invest in a variety of ICO projects to maximize profits, and your profits will be diversified and stable at CoinZinc. You don't need any skills, you only need to spend the minimum 5 dollars to start your investment, and test whether CoinZinc is your partner willing to cooperate for a long time, and you will get the highest profit 18% hours per hour.And we pay instantly,no wait, only need to wait 1 seconds to get the money in your wallet.
Our program is intended for people willing to achieve their financial freedom but unable to do so because they're not financial experts. Elevate Capital is a long term high yield private loan program, backed up by Forex market trading and investing in various funds and activities. Profits from these investments are used to enhance our program and increase its stability for the long term.
Welcome to the website of Crypto7 company. We have first-class specialists in matters related to the development of new methods of crypto mining of Bitcoin and its derivatives using classical and advanced algorithms as well as trading activity on the world's leading crypto exchanges. In view of the many years of operating, strong theoretical elaboration and practical experience, our company has g...
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Linda Clifford is interviewed by DiscoMusic.com member, Dayna Newman. Linda is best remembered for her vocals on "Runaway Love" and "If My Friends Could See Me Now."
Linda Clifford is interview by DiscoMusic.com member Dayna Newman
Hi Linda, it's always a pleasure speaking with you. I would like to thank you for doing this interview with me for DiscoMusic.com where you are loved, respected, and held in such high esteem. You are truly Disco royalty and your songs are part of the soundtrack of our lives.
I know you are a Miss New York State I don't say "former" or "were" like most writers because they can't take that away from you, you will always be Miss New York State. Of course there are other winners of the title but that doesn't erase the fact.
Did you sing for the talent portion of the pageant and if you did what song did you sing?
Linda Clifford: Hi Dayna, This is so exciting! My very first DiscoMusic.com" interview. Okay, let's start at the beginning. There has never been a talent portion in the Miss USA system, at least as far as I know. It's all about the look (face), the evening gown, and that swimsuit, okayyyyyyy.
And I know you were WEARIN' that swimsuit too~! OKAYYY... L.O.L.
I know your roots are in jazz and you sang with the Jericho Jazz Singers and later toured the country with your jazz trio, Linda and the Trade Winds. After touring plus earning parts in several Hollywood movies you moved from your native Brooklyn to Chicago. Where is home to you?
Linda Clifford: Home has been Chicago for quite some time, although there were many stops in between.
My first stop away from the Big Apple was Miami. The Jericho Jazz Singers were from there, and still used it as a home base. I lived there for about a year, performing the whole time in different clubs in the area. From there I went to California. I spent about five years there, before settling in Chicago.
Listen to Runaway Love by Linda Clifford:
You and I have talked about how important family is to us both, so I know how much your children are loved and how much they love you. Of course most children think their parents are stars but in your case it was a fact. When your children were younger did they understand that mama was a celebrity and a music icon?
Linda Clifford: Ah, my children. They didn't have a clue! I was simply mommy to them, and that's exactly how I wanted it. I'm sure there's something to be said for children of privilege, but I think theres more to be said of children who learn to appreciate the joy of realizing a dream, earning something you want very badly, understanding what sacrifice is. Nick (my better half of 30 years) and I are from a generation of hands on parenting. No nannies for us. We put them on the school bus every morning, and greeted them at home every afternoon. During the summer months, they traveled with us. By the time they were five, they both had passports, and were world travelers!
I worked in Discos from the age of 16 till I was 21 so you were a part of my life way before we had ever spoken, not many things in life were certain but I always knew that you would be a part of my night and it felt like you were singing just for me and I know a lot of other people that feel and felt the same way, your voice has such a pure rich powerful quality to it and it goes straight through your soul.
As a performer how does it feel to know that you have touched so many lives and made so many people happy?
Linda Clifford: Well, that's quite a compliment. Thank You. You know whenever I have the chance to really think about what I do, my career, I realize how truly blessed I am. Aside from being with my family, the one thing I enjoy doing most in the world, is also how I make a living. To say that I'm grateful is a real understatement. I am blessed!
You don't have to answer this if you don't want to, of course I will edit it out if you don't, but I think a lot of the readers on DiscoMusic.com would like to know the answer to this seeing as we have such diverse members and readers, and we all get along very well in spite of that. That's something you wouldn't find on a heavy metal or country music site: When doing a club gig, is the energy any different in a straight club than it is in a gay club? Of course there are the mixed clubs, I hate to categorize or label anything, but let's face it, it's human nature. So if you don't mind? And if you had to pick your favorite club to perform in what club would that be?
Linda Clifford: Oh boy, That's a good one. The answer to the first part of this is YES, the energy is definitely different. I have been fortunate enough to work all kinds of clubs, and I really think each place has its own energy. I love all my fans, but there are some who are more reserved than others. There are some who just let it all hang out. I like the "let it all hang out." etc crowd myself, because they want to have fun.
As for my favorite club, that too is very tough. There was a club in Fort Lauderdale called the Copa. I did some heavy partying there! They knew how to treat a guest, they came to have a good time, and there was never a dull moment. Some might expect me to say Studio 54, or the Red Parrot in New York, but I have to say that Copa stole my heart. It wasn't just about the club, it was about the people.
Listen to Bridge Over Troubled Water by Linda Clifford
Girl, I worked at the Copa in 1978-80 on and off and saw you perform there twice and have said on DiscoMusic.com before and will say again, you can BLOW "for those that don't know, that's a term meaning THE GIRL CAN SANG" not sing but SANG, big difference... it's an American thang... haha.
You have the best live voice of any diva who ever performed there and we had em ALL.. I was betting you would say the Copa. I loved the tropical decor, the energy and ambiance was intoxicating. Okay, I'm going to go to my next question cause I could ramble on forever. My personal favorite song of yours is If My Friends Could See Me Now. I love the energy and it has always held a special place in my heart, and Gypsy Lady is right up there too. Of course I love all your songs. Runaway Love is also a favorite of mine. I love the rap in it. And no one can say OOWWWW like you ha-ha.
If you had to choose a song as your favorite or one that has the most sentimental value what song would that be?
Linda Clifford: The song I think I would choose would be, All the Man that I Need." Most people associate that tune with Whitney Houston, and she sang the hell out of it, but it was actually written for Nick and I. Michael Gore and Dean Pitchford wrote that for an album after we spent some time together. They got to know me, and saw how happy we were. After being in a terrible marriage for years, I didn't think happiness was possible. Boy was I wrong!
Listen to All the Man that I Need by Linda Clifford
Now thats some info I doubt many people are aware of and Im thrilled you shared it with us. Im so happy for you, you deserve all the happiness in the world, and I wish you many more wonderful years to come.
Linda, you have had the pleasure of working with some wonderful producers and artists. Who have you loved working with and who do you really respect in the business? I know you cant mention all but are there any that just pop right into your head?
Linda Clifford: Hnmmmmmm, Well, I loved working with Isaac Hayes the best. He was so down to earth, and easy to be around. Still love him.
What a great Talent, his musical accomplishments are legendary.
And I know DJs are very important in an artists career, my personal favorites are Larry Levan , Bobby Guttadaro Nicky Siano and Dj Russell. Who are your favorites?
Linda Clifford: That's a tough one. I don't want to leave anyone out, but Ralphi Rosario has always been a favorite. Davidson Ospina is a real winner, OMG, I can't think. There are Too many to mention.
Mel Cherin of West End Records is a genius in my opinion, how was it working with him?
Linda Clifford: I Love that man!
What's your secret for longevity? You're still beautiful full of life and that voice is still flawless.
Linda Clifford: Estee Lauder should be canonized. She is a friend to all women and men. The best skin care on the planet. Trying to stay positive in all things, keeps you happy and full of life.
I don't think Miss Lauder can take all the credit; Genes have to play a role in there somewhere. <Wink..> Linda, tell us what's going on with you these days. Do you have any plans to hit the studio, any club dates coming up or any events that we can look forward to?
Linda Clifford: Well let's see. I've been in the studio with a wonderful producer in L.A. His name is Rick Gianatos, and we did a few things together. We're in the process of searching out a deal for distribution right now. The first single is called, " How Long." Great tune and lots of fun. Also, would love to start touring more actively this summer, while I can still shake my groove thang.
Oh, and I just shot a fabulous DVD in L.A., with Thelma Houston, Taste of Honey, France Jolie, and Cee Cee Peniston. So keep watching for that. I'll be posting a bulletin on my space, as well as opening my "store" and selling it along with other goodies.
Im so excited as so many other people will be, I can't wait. OK, If you could sum up your life in a word what would that word be?
Linda Clifford: Blessed
If you could relive any year in your life, not change anything just relive it, what year would that be and why?
Linda Clifford: That's easy! It would be my twenty-eighth year. That's when I knew I was in love with my best friend, and that we'd always be together.
After the "other" marriage I told you about, I swore off relationships. But he convinced me that love didn't have to be painful. After he proposed twice, and I turned him down, out of fear, I suggested that we just live together. His reply was, I don't want to 'live' with you, I want you to be the mother of my children, and I want to die in your arms." I said yes, can you blame me? Like I said, blessed.
Umm no, I cant blame you at all,thats the stuff dreams are made of, SO Romantic ~!! Yes you are truly blessed. You have what most women and quite a few men are looking for but usually find it very elusive and usually don't find it at all... Whoever said. A good man is hard to find NEVER LIED... haha.
Linda, Thank you so much for taking the time to answer these questions, we as your friends and fans can never get too much Linda Clifford ~ ! I only wish much Lesser Divas and people that havent accomplished a quarter of what you have in your life so far had your sweet humble disposition, I know we will be hearing a lot more from you in the future You know I love ya and many thanks from myself and DiscoMusic.com.
Recommended Listening & Related Linda Clifford Links
If My Friends Could See Me Now
I Just Wanna Wanna
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My name is Courtney Armento, I graduated from the Claremont School of Theology in Claremont California, with my Master of Divinity in the spring of this year. Last summer I earned a 40-hour certificate in Domestic Violence Crisis Intervention in Illinois. I am a survivor of Domestic Violence and Intimate Partner Violence. I have been crafted for the ministry that God has called me to, by experience, passion and education.
Before seminary, I worked in the corporate world, as many have who are now in ministry. Unbeknown to me, I had been moving towards this Domestic Violence Advocacy life in every step of my journey. Very early on in my career as a Hospitality Manager for Hyatt Hotels in California, my staff sought me out for spiritual care and direction. I wasn’t exactly sure what people saw or felt in my presence but it was constant throughout my 20+ years in corporate leadership roles.
In my early 20’s I heard very clearly, “your life story is going to help others.” I did not know exactly how that would play out. I thought it had to do with moving to Europe and backpacking around while writing a screen play about my life. Already at 22 years old, I felt I had experienced enough to warrant an autobiographical film. Turns out, there was way more ahead of me that would be impact and ministry worthy.
Remembering the message I heard early on, with decorum, I would share, in my circles, some of what I was going through in my life. Every single time, those around me who were dealing with similar experiences, would feel safe enough to share their stories. It was as if God knew people needed permission to speak their truth and was setting divine appointments. My voice gave others space and freedom. It was like watching popcorn pop. These spaces were liberating for those around me, no longer did they have to feel they were the only ones experiencing these life events. No longer did they feel isolated and alone. Community was instantly created.
The same experience is happening now, as I share in public spaces that my call to ministry is around Domestic and Intimate Partner Violence, it never fails, individuals who hear that are set free. Space is created for individuals that have experienced toxic love or “predatory romance” to speak their truth, sometimes for the first time. It is an honor to hold this sacred space with people.
It is my hope that we, as the wider church can create and be the space to allow for sharing, education, advocacy, empowerment, and healing around Domestic and Intimate Partner Violence in my life time! That is why I co-authored the newly adopted Resolution GA-1928, A Call to See and Respond to the Crisis of Domestic and Intimate Partner Violence, (DV/IPV) for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The CDC deems Domestic Violence a public health crisis. We as church leaders, must do our part to reduce the statistics and create new generations of Christians who are impervious to toxic love.
Due to shame, stigma and silence, people are pressed deeply into the margins, suffering in plain sight and invisibilized in their pain.
Tell us a bit about your journey to this ministry.
One Thanksgiving Day, when my children were young, around 2005, I was driving from one side of town to the other, to get to family, and food. The street I that always took to get across town was blocked off. Police cars were everywhere and I had to drive around. It was a major scene. I found out later that on that Thanksgiving Day, a man held his partner captive and threatened her life. That was her last thanksgiving.
I will never forget the helplessness I felt and the ache in my soul when I learned of her last torturous day where all the king’s horses and all the king’s men who were just on the street bellow, couldn’t save her.
Shortly after her death, I remember thinking to myself. I am called to make a difference. I asked myself what can I do right now with what I have, it was 2 years after my divorce, so what I had was only a desire and my imagination.
That desire became an annual gift drive that I started by asking friends and businesses to donate new or gently used items for me to wrap as beautiful gifts that children could give their mothers on Mother Day. Mothers who were in shelters with their children, due to domestic violence or addiction. I wanted mothers to know that someone cared that they were in transition. I facilitated that gift drive for 8 years, and then I received a bigger call.
I knew in 2005 that I had to do something about abuse. At that time, I had no idea that I had no idea that I would fall for toxic love again or that I was going to seminary.
What inspired you to write the resolution?
Before seminary there were many social justice causes tugging at my soul. I co-authored resolution GA1928, because while I was in seminary my call was crystalizing. I looked up and discovered that 70% of my seminal work was centered around Domestic Violence. I also brushed up against the reality, that individuals were dealing with abuse, moral injury and isolation. I looked on the General Church’s website for DV resources and found a resolution on DV passed 34 years prior in Des Moines, Iowa. I cited resolution 8520, on a few points. I did not know, I when decided to craft a new resolution, that the 2019 General Assembly would also be held in Des Moines Iowa.
GA1928 is for the woman who died on Thanksgiving in 2005 and for myself and for all who suffer in silence in plain sight. It asks that church leaders become educated around abuse so that they may provide sensitized pastoral care. It is far too easy to re-traumatize someone in a pastoral care space. It asks that Domestic/ Intimate Partner Violence education via healthy relationship and age appropriate red flag awareness, become common place in youth camp and youth and young adult ministries so as to give youth a head start towards rejecting harmful relationship contracts.
As I do this work, many tell me they experienced this abuse at a young age and had no idea what was happening and had nowhere to turn. I believe the church should be a place to turn.
Share with us one of the surprises you have discovered while developing this ministry?
I was really surprised by the fact that several states including Illinois, require hair stylists to complete 40-hour Domestic Violence Crisis intervention certification to qualify for their cosmetology licenses. It makes sense and I am overjoyed that more space is being created for awareness and response in the community. Resolution GA 1928 asks why not pastors and churches.
What do you feel is important for individuals to know as they consider birthing space in their context for this ministry?
The most important concept is the understanding that leadership and communal education is paramount. I have curated and created resources to support leadership in aligning with the asks of the resolution and they are available for free on my website, Tethered1.org. Through DSF Discover, I have facilitated a webinar and will host an online class on Domestic Violence which is scheduled for October 7-11. Registration for the on-line class can be accessed on my website. The class will aid church leadership in understanding the complexities of abuse to aid in cultivating a compassionate and sensitized response as church communities move into to this conversation. The dynamics at play in an abusive relationship are not logical and therefore cannot be processed through a straightforward pragmatic lens.
Leadership should not be afraid to speak and preach on this topic. As we stay silent, we are complicit in the cultural landscape that supports invisibilizing victims/survivors. There are 100 free sermons on abuse available in the resources on my website.
Many do not know that shelters have a plethora of resources available to anyone who needs them. Survivors do not need to be residents of shelters to partake in the resources. Resources include: counseling, safety planning, medical and dental assistance, legal assistance, relocation assistance, and a hotline to talk to someone who can help.
Shelters will give you DV specific pamphlets for your church restrooms. Shelters have community advocates that can come and speak about their resources at your church for free.
Every state has a domestic violence coalition with printed masterials that churches can get for free, often in multiple languages. Some, like Illinois have DV swag, free swag bags, chap stick, and hand sanitizers. If you create a community event to benefit survivors, do not invite survivors only to the event. It is best to invite the community to learn about or pray for the pandemic health crisis known as Domestic/ Intimate Partner Violence. We should never single out survivors to come to events.
Grief and depression are major experiences in an abusive dynamic. I advocate for churches to create space for public lament. The dominant message in public spaces has been that we cannot cry or feel in public. The Bible bears witness to the importance of feeling, grieving and processing with others for our very sanity. It is simple to create contemplative space for lament, a pot of tea, contemplative music, Kleenex, pillows, and someone to hold the space.
I am happy to support church leadership in making space in their context for this ministry, please look at all of the resources on my website. I add new resources often, currently there are book lists, and survivor hacks. Soon I will add a bible study template and community contemplative template and more, all available for free.
What are you working on now?
I am currently working with my resolution co-author Rev. Yvonne McCoy and the National Benevolent Association (NBA), to develop a Domestic Violence Affinity Group that will hopefully become a Peer Group in 2020 to support church leaders across the General Church. This would be the first Peer Group under the NBA, devoted to Domestic Violence Awareness.
We are also reaching out to all of the Regional Ministers to keep the resolution in the forefront and ask them to consider offering DV training in their regions to all clergy.
I am also educating clergy in person and via online platforms around the nuances and prevalence of abuse. I am grateful for the support of the CCIW Region, Rev. Teresa Dulyea- Parker and the staff who see value in this work and make space for my ministry. CCIW is the first region to list the DV resources on their webpage as the resolution asks. Please take a look! I am so excited about the work that God is doing through us!
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I have recently started reading Key’s latest visual novel series, Rewrite. I’ve heard a lot of good about it (and it helps that most of my contacts on Skype have read it and constantly drown me with references and awesome music), so I thought I’d give it a go.
It helps that the only things I’m actively blogging right now are old anime and WataMote.
In contrast to resident tritagonist-turned-deuteragonist Wahfuu‘s review of the series, my posts will be episodic and will be write-ups of my thoughts of what I’ve read up to that point. Just so it could stand out from his awesome congregated reviews. 😛 That being said, MISSION START!
Continue reading “Let’s Read! Rewrite (Mikoto Playthrough) – The Beginning…”
Gardening Team Alpha Squad Redux.
I always hate finishing a VN I really like. It kind of feels like a friend is going away and you’ll never know when you’ll see them next. In this case, however, I do know when I’ll see them next, which is Harvest Festa, but I’m not sure if that totally counts. Either way, Rewrite is something I’ll probably remember for a pretty long time. Flawed in quite a few ways but enjoyable in far, far more. From it’s incredibly creative way of showing it’s message, it’s incredibly dark shift in tone, its great sound-track and one of my favorite common routes I’ve ever experienced, mostly due to the hilariously bright cast of characters. Speaking of which, I think Key is going to have to find a way to mix a straight-up foreigner in there next VN. Kud was half and even she has been eclipsed by the ever so absurd Kotori as far as butchering the english language goes. I don’t know how Key plans on topping themselves after this one. Maybe the next setting could be in boston. That’d work.
Continue reading “Wahfuu Review! Full Review of Rewrite.”
SHE’S ON THE DAMN COVER, IT’S NOT A SPOILER.
Y’know, sometimes, words really don’t do it justice. Really, realllllly don’t do it justice. I could go on and on and on about how good the writing is, how clever and creative the plot is and just.. everything in general, but I honestly don’t think anything I say can do it justice. It’s something really has to be read to be fully appreciated. Rarely does anything make me turn off the nitpick and critical part of my brain just out of liking it so much but the final sections of Rewrite managed to do it to me. And now I have been left with the daunting ask of trying to sum it all up without freaking spoiling anything.
Seriously, I can’t even talk about the damn love interest all that much, really! What the hell do I even write here? Ah, screw it. Whatever. I guess I’ll just gush a little bit here since and do my damnedest to try to sell this. I’m really lost at how I plan on going about it, but I might as well try. So, here is my feeble attempt at telling you about Rewrites Finale, Moon and Terra. Oh boy, let’s see how this works out. First up, Moon.
Continue reading “Rewrite: Finale (Moon/Terra)”
I love you too, don’t worry.
I always like giving credit where credit is due, and nobody deserves more credit then Akane’s voice actress, Eri Kitamura. I could never shake off that feeling that she’d make a killing working in phone-sex service. Even the most banal conversations gave off a sultry and very dirty feeling to them. I really have to
wonder long for question what an H scene would be like with Akane in question. There would probably be a lot of whips. And handcuffs. Possibly rope depending on how frisky Kotarou is feeling at the time.
Releasing my inner masochism aside, I feel like I want to know where the.. inspiration for Akane came from. Did someone have a really hot and dirty sounding sadist for a girlfriend one time? How did they bring it up when they were discussing characters? “So! This girl here. Yes. Make sure her route is really sad. With a lot of thought provoking messages and character development for Kotarou. And don’t forget the sexy voice and attitude, too! If we’re going to get all serious and gritty we might as well give a stiffy at the same time.” The bastards.
Ladies and gentlemen, Rewrites leading cause of awkward erections, Senri Akane!
Continue reading “Rewrite: Akane (Cynical Succubus)”
#1 Cause of brain damage in the Rewrite universe.
There’s tsundere – and then there’s this. If you’re walking out from a date in an ice cream parlour looking like you just got ran over by a bus, three cars and a stampede of angry rhinoceros, you have to wonder if ‘tsun‘ really does your girl justice. She beats you for watching her eat, she beats you for saying joking around, she beats you because your face is rather asymmetrical from all the swelling and could use some straightening out! And primarily, you get beat because you are Kotarou, and just freaking deserved it, you frivolous bastard you. Lucia’s particular type of tsundere is reminiscent of Tachibana from Nichijou, in the sense that whole persona is so over the top that you may have a feeling they’re making fun of the whole tsundere trope in itself.
We need a name that can capture the essence of these blatantly over-the-top kinds of archetypes. She’s like a tsundere, albeit madder…heh. Mad-dere. Infact, we might need to drop the dere portion of this all together. There’s only so much brain trauma one man can handle before dere becomes a word he can’t say without slobbering on himself. Anyone have any good ideas here?
Right. Let’s move along here. Konohana Lucia!
Continue reading “Rewrite: Lucia (Spicy Demon of Justice!)”
Ohtori Sakuya, ladies and gents. If you couldn’t tell immediately, the man practically bleeds Shoujo swag. Butler to the human rocket Chihaya with the ability to turn Kotarous name into weird, rude and sometimes vile mutations of itself, Sakuya spends a huge portion of the common route and occasionally parts of other peoples route hating you for no real definable reason whilst at the same time trying to make sure Chihaya doesn’t end up on a mountain or the center of the earth since she has the brainpower of most rocks.
I’m not sure if Sakuya was written to be disliked or not, but if he was they didn’t do a very good job at it. Sakuya was a bit annoying to listen to at times during the common route but it becomes painfully clear very quickly that Sakuya is all talk and might rival Lucia in terms of tsundere. He even grows into a gigantic bro, especially getting to the end of the route where you learn his story almost to the point of nearly becoming–
I feel like I’m forgetting something.
Continue reading “Rewrite: Chihaya (The Human Boulder!)”
Meido Mikoto Waifu Deluxe!
Shizuru’s route is about the overwhelming force of Shizuru’s pain-inducing imagination as Runstar, Sauryman, Pokerface and Gaffe Giraffe-san all combine efforts to take over the known world. Runstar shoves Kotarou’s face into the dirt, proving that everything does, indeed, smell like the sea. We’re all forced to bow as hulkamania runs wild on us, Guardian and Gaia join forces to take on the real threat of the world while the entire world blows up in a gigantic nuclear strike via the latter, proving that humanity are all assholes and the Key was right in the first place. Oh, and somewhere along the lines, I commit ritual seppuku after the absurdity that was this route’s ending.
We’ll get to that later.
Continue reading “Rewrite: Shizuru (Ripe for the picking!)”
Welcome to Shizuru’s imagination. Just. NO COMMENT.
And much money was spent on feeding the glutton that day.
Hello, boys and girls! Want to know what today’s word is?
Want to know what’s better? When all of your supposed friends do it to you! And then, it gets better, because you can turn it around and do it right back to yourself, too! And then everyone’s lying to each-other, you are lying to you, and everyone’s just in this huge ball of lies and nobody can tell the difference between what’s real and fake anymore! It’s like a “make your own adventure”, except in real-time! Isn’t it grand? It sounds fun!
See a sky-dragon? All your friends bitch-slap you and outright lie to your face? Whole school treating you nicely for some odd reason? Pack that shit away with the magic of lying! Nothing ever happened. Nothing needs to happen, as long as you have the insane willpower to just keep doing it to yourself without wanting to punch every single mirror within arms reach.
Right, then. Now that I got that out of my system, this is the first route I did on Rewrite, and as such, all of you lovely people get a post about it! I’ll try not to be too spoilerific about incredibly big details or swerves, but I might give away some moderate spoiler stuff for the sake of context. So, if you are alright with that, keep reading on. It gets better. Sort of. Right, right. Must continue. Alright, so! Without more rambling, I give you the ever-so-strange and hilarious, Kanbe Kotori.
Continue reading “Rewrite: Kotori (Queen of the Idols)”
I DO THIS TO MYSELF. I REGRET NOTHING.
We interrupt your broadcasting of Duel Savior and Da Capo III for another visual novel to once again delay everything else I’m doing! Yes, everyone, it’s that time of the year. Where some really cool guys translate the latest Key visual novel (in record time!) and everyone is forced to go through bitch-tears and reduced masculinity for awhile. Yep, it’s that old song and dance. Rewrite has been translated. And unfortunately, everything else I’ve been doing has taken a small trip into the back-burner, because there is no way at all I can bring myself to read anything else when I have something so hyped in front of me.
So, curious? Of course you are. So this, friends and enemies alike, is the beginning of my journey into Key’s latest monstrosity! Let’s get ready to count the scars, alrighty? Okay, so, on with the show!
Continue reading “Key’s Rewrite! First Thoughts and Feelings Thus Far”
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The United States has been trying to suppress Colombian coca production and cocaine trafficking since at least the time of Ronald Reagan, but the contemporary phase of US intervention in Colombia in the name of the war on drugs celebrated its 10th anniversary this week. As Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) security analyst Adam Isaacson pointed out Wednesday in a cogent essay, "Colombia: Don't Call It A Model," it was on July 13, 2000, that President Bill Clinton signed into law a $1.3 billion package of mainly military assistance known as Plan Colombia.
Plan Colombia coca eradication scene
Plan Colombia was supposed to cut Colombian cocaine production in half by mid-decade, and while total US expenditures on it have now risen to $7.3 billion, that goal was clearly not met. But, a decade down the road, there has been some "progress." The leftist peasant guerrillas of the FARC have been seriously weakened and are operating at half the strength they were 10 years ago. Violence has steadily decreased, as has criminality. The Colombian state has been strengthened -- especially its military, which has nearly doubled in size.
Still, as Isaacson notes, those gains have come at a tremendous cost. Thousands have been killed at the hands of rightist paramilitary groups aligned with powerful landowners and political elites, and while those paramilitaries officially disbanded several years ago, they appear to be reconstituting themselves. The seemingly endless "parapolitics" scandals linking the paramilitaries to high government actors demonstrate that the price of "progress" in Colombia has been corruption, impunity and human rights abuses.
And the war continues, albeit at a lower level. Some 21,000 fighters from all sides and an estimated 14,000 civilians died in the fighting this decade, and all the while, peasants were planting and harvesting coca crops, and traffickers were turning it into cocaine and exporting it to the insatiable North American and, increasingly, European markets.
While Colombian and US policy-makers have hailed Plan Colombia as a "success," neither Isaacson nor other analysts who spoke to the Chronicle this week were willing to make such unvarnished claims. "'Success' has come at a high cost," wrote Isaacson. "Colombia's security gains are partial, possibly reversible, and weighed down by 'collateral damage,'" including mass killings, other human rights abuses, and the weakening of democratic institutions."
"Success has eluded efforts to achieve Plan Colombia's main goal: reducing Colombian cocaine supplies," wrote Isaacson. Despite years of aerial eradication, coca remains stubbornly entrenched in the Colombian countryside, showing a significant decline only last year, after Colombia switched its eradication emphasis from spraying to manual eradication. "This strategic shift appears to be reducing coca cultivation, for now at least. In 2009 -- a year in which both aerial and manual eradication dropped sharply -- the UNODC found a significant drop in Colombian coca-growing, to 68,000 hectares."
But, as Isaacson and others note, that decline has been offset by increases in cultivation in Peru and Bolivia. In fact, total coca cultivation in the region has remained remarkably consistent since 2003, at about 150,000 hectares per year.
"If you look at it from point of aiding the Colombian government to fight against the FARC and other insurgents, it has worked," said Juan Carlos Hidalgo, Latin American analyst for the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute. "A decade ago, Colombia was close to being a failed state, with the FARC controlling large swathes of territory and threatening major cities. Today they are terribly weak and on the run, and much of their leadership has been killed," he noted.
"Due to the widespread use of helicopters and the fact that guerrillas don't have that kind of mobility, the Colombians and Americans have been successful in shrinking the area of operation available to the guerrillas, and that has hurt the guerrillas' ability to recruit," said Larry Birns, director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs
. "A few years ago, there were maybe 16,000 FARC operating in six or seven major theaters, and now it's about half that. But that doesn't necessarily mean the FARC is finished; we haven't seen any sign of that. Their options are fewer, but they are far from disappeared. Plan Colombia has been successful in empowering the Colombian military, but not so much in solving the problem of the FARC insurrection."
"On the military side, the counterinsurgency, there has been definite progress," agreed Vanda Felbab-Brown, a drugs and counterinsurgency expert at the Brookings Institution. "The situation in the late 1990s was very bad. The FARC was in the hills above Bogotá, and the paramilitaries were highly organized. Today, the FARC is much weaker, land travel is more possible, and other security indicators also show progress. That said, the FARC is still around in substantial numbers and can jeopardize security and economic development in particular areas. And the paramilitaries are back, even if the Colombian government insists they are not the paramilitaries. They are, for all intents and purposes, just like the paramilitaries of the 1980s and 1990s."
"The idea was that if they suppressed the coca, the capabilities of the FARC, the ELN, and the paramilitaries would be substantially weakened," said Felbab-Brown. "They said that if you eliminated coca in Colombia, the conflict would end, but I don't think you can bankrupt the belligerents through eradication. That didn't pan out. In some places, the government was able to diminish at least temporarily economic flows to particular elements of the FARC, but that was the result of military operations, not eradication," she argued.
"A lot of people say the FARC have lost their political agenda, that they are just traffickers, but I don't subscribe to that view," said Felbab-Brown. "If someone wants to conduct a rebellion, they have to have a way to finance it. I don't think the FARC is any different. One of the big accomplishments of the US and the Colombian military was taking out a lot of top FARC leaders," she continued. "Their current leaders have been out in the jungle so long, they suffer from a lack of intellectual imagination. But the FARC are peasant guerrillas, with a few intellectuals and students, and they were never strong ideologically. There is no equivalent of Comrade Gonzalo [of Peru's Shining Path] or Mullah Omar or Bin Laden for the FARC. And I think they've run out of ideas. Times have changed, and the ideological story they want to tell the world and their members is crumbling, but it's not the case they are just interested in money. They still want power, they still believe in narratives of war and conquest, but they don't have anything to frame it with anymore."
"They are about more than just criminality," agreed Isaacson. "They're raising drug money to buy guns and those guns are for something. While their ideology may be pretty stunted at this point, they are driven by a desire to take power -- unlike, say, the Sinaloa cartel, which is driven by a desire to sell drugs. They hate Colombia's political class, and they represent that small percentage of peasants on the fringe. Those boomtowns on the frontier, that's where the FARC's base is. Wherever there is no government and people are on their own, the FARC claims to protect them. They are not bandits -- they are more dangerous than bandits."
The paramilitaries continue to wreak havoc, too, said Felbab-Brown. "They assassinate community leaders and human rights organizers," she said. "In some areas, they collude with the FARC; in others, they fight the FARC over cocaine routes and access to coca production. They are still a real menace, and it is very discouraging that they have come back so quickly. That shows the failure of the Colombian government to address the real underlying causes of the problems."
That has been a serious flaw from the beginning, the Brookings Institution analyst said. "At first Plan Colombia was aimed at root causes of conflict and coca production, but that was dropped, and in the Bush administration it morphed into a counternarcotics and counterinsurgency project. Economic development was a minor component of the plan, and the US never tried to pressure Uribe to take on economic redistribution and the distribution of political power, nor has the US been very vocal about human rights and civil liberties issues."
"When Plan Colombia was first conceived, it was primarily a domestic program aimed at drawing in the Colombian population, which at that time had become totally disaffected from the state," recalled Birns. "It was to emphasize economic development, nutrition, and education. It was the Clinton administration that militarized Plan Colombia and made it into a security doctrine rather than an economic development formula."
That only deepened in the wake of 9/11, said Birns. "Increasingly, Plan Colombia morphed first into a counternarcotics program than again into an anti-terrorist vehicle. The US began to define the FARC, which never had any international aspect, as terrorists. It was a convenience for the US policy of intervention to emphasize the terrorism aspect."
But at root, Plan Colombia was first and foremost about reducing Colombian coca and cocaine production. "It wasn't sold here in the US as a counterinsurgency effort, but as an effort to reduce the supply of cocaine to the US market," Cato's Hidalgo pointed out. "If you look at the acreage of coca planted in Colombia, it has decreased, but the production of coca remains the same, and coca production is increasingly dramatically in Peru and Bolivia. Once again, we see the balloon effect at work."
"As the reduction took place in Colombia, it simply moved back to Peru, whence it originally came," concurred COHA's Birns. "Peruvian cocaine production is now half the regional total, so total cocaine production remains essentially the same, even though there has been a reduction in the role Colombia plays."
"One of the best measures to see if the supply of cocaine has decreased is to look at price, but what that tells us is that cocaine was 23% cheaper in 2007 than it was in 1998 when Plan Colombia was launched," said Hidalgo. "It is clear that Plan Colombia has failed in its main goal, which was to reduce the supply of cocaine to the US market."
"We've tried everything," said Hidalgo. "Aggressive aerial spraying of fields, manual eradication, as well as softer measures to entice producers to adopt other crops, and it's all failed. As long as the price of cocaine remains inflated by prohibition, there is big profit and a big incentive for producers and traffickers to grow the plant and export the product to the US and elsewhere. The only way to curtail this is by legalizing cocaine. Other than that, I don't see this as a battle that can be won."
Felbab-Brown called the coca and cocaine production estimates "extraordinarily squishy," but added it was clear that Plan Colombia had failed to achieve its goals there. "The plan was supposed to halve production in six years, and that clearly was not accomplished," she said. "It would be false to deny there has been some progress, but it has not been sufficient. I think it was bound not to work because it was so heavily focused on eradication in the context of violence and underemphasized the need for economic programs to address why people cultivate coca. And the larger reality is even if you succeeded in Colombia, production would have moved elsewhere."
Counternarcotics cannot solve Colombia's problems, said Felbab-Brown, because coca is not at the root of those problems. "There is only so much that counternarcotics programs can do given the basic economic and political situation in Colombia," said Felbab-Brown. "You have a set-up where labor is heavily taxed and capital and land are lightly taxed, so even when you get economic growth, it doesn't generate jobs, it only concentrates money in the hands of the rich. The Colombian government has been unwilling to address these issues, and inequality continues to grow. You can only do so much if you can't generate legal jobs. You have to take on entrenched elites, the bases of political power in Colombia, and Uribe's people are not interested in doing that."
But Uribe will be gone next month, replaced by his elected successor, Juan Manuel Santos. That could mean change, said Isaacson. "He's not as ideologically to the right as Uribe, some of his appointments indicate people who actually have an interest in governance, and he is the principle author of the program they're carrying out in the countryside to get the state and not just the military out there," he said. "He could also be more open to the idea of peace negotiations than Uribe was."
That may or may not be the case, but Plan Colombia under whatever president is not going to solve Colombia's drug problem -- nor America's, said Isaacson. "At home, we need to reduce demand through treatment and other options," he said. "In Colombia, as long as you have parts of the country ungoverned and as long as members of the government have nothing to fear if they abuse the population, there will always be drugs. Colombia needs to build the state and do it without impunity. We built up the Colombian military, but there was no money for teachers, doctors, or any public good besides security."
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REGISTRATIONAll boats, craft, and trailers must have a current, properly affixed California registration and current Millerton Lake Marina sticker in the Marina. Failure to have a current registration will result in removal of the boat at the Boat Owner’s expense without a refund.
Oil, oily water or raw or untreated sewage shall not be discharged into the water or on land. All vessels shall be subject to inspection at any time by the Marina staff and other authorities to ensure that all sewage systems are Coast Guard approved and all through-hull valves are properly sealed to prevent illegal dumping while in port. All sewage systems on vessels must be U.S. Coast Guard approved and must be locked off while the vessel is docked. No porta-potties are permitted in the Marina. All spills of gas, diesel fuel, oil, or other hazardous materials must be reported immediately to all appropriate governmental authorities and the Marina Manager. Boats may only be washed with biodegradable soaps and the amount of soap used must be kept to a minimum. Removed paint chips, sanding debris, hazardous chemicals, including oil, engine coolant, hydraulic fluid, gasoline, diesel, paint and mineral spirits may not be allowed to enter the water or the ground and may not be left where they might be prone to leaking or spilling or exposed to rainwater. Proper disposal of all such sewage, oil products and chemicals is the sole responsibility of the boat owner. The Marina office may be contacted for approved disposal sites.
Garbage is not to be thrown overboard or stored on the docks. It must be placed in sealed plastic bags and placed in the dumpster provided. No oil products, paint or solvents, or other hazardous items are allowed in the trash. An oil disposal facility is provided at the Marina.
Noise should be kept to a minimum at all times. Discretion in operating engines, generating plants, radios, televisions, other sound producing devices and other power equipment should be used so as not to create a nuisance or disturbance.
SWIMMING AND FISHING
Swimming, diving, and fishing are not permitted from the docks or finger piers.
STORAGE ON DOCKS
Walkways shall be kept clear at all times. Only approved dock boxes and boat stairs are allowed on the docks. Only dock boxes properly identified and approved by the Marina may be installed and then only in designated areas. Storage of items must be confined to the dock box or the boat and will not be permitted on the docks, finger piers, parking areas, etc. Storage of hazardous or flammable materials is not allowed on or about the docks or in dock boxes. Any unapproved items found on a walkway or finger pier will be removed and disposed of at the owner’s expense.
PARKING AND MOTOR VEHICLES
Designated parking is expressly for the use of Marina slip tenants and their guests. Violators will be towed at the owner’s sole risk and expense. Long term storage of vehicles is not permitted. Vehicles shall not be left in the same spot for more than three days without approval. Millerton Lake Marina does not warrant the availability or security of parking. The Marina disclaims responsibility for vehicles parked in the parking lots, including damage to, theft of or theft from vehicles. No overnight accommodations will be allowed in a trailer, recreational vehicle or other camping equipment in the Marina parking areas. Trailers or small boats on trailers are not to be parked in any parking area without written approval and proper identification from the Marina. Parking violators will receive a parking citation which may be issued for each occurrence. The parking areas are often congested with many pedestrians moving around; please drive very slowly through these areas to avoid accidents and injuries. Boat owners and their guests shall maintain a safe speed while at the Marina and shall not exceed 15 mph at any time.
COOKING AND CAMPFIRES
No open fires, BBQ’s or cooking stoves are permitted on the docks in the Marina.
Absolutely no fireworks of any kind may be used or stored in the Marina. It is illegal to possess fireworks in a State Park. The Millerton Lake Marina is located within the State Park.
Pets are permitted only if they do not create any disturbance. All pets must be kept on a leash six feet or less, and under the immediate control of the owner at all times. Pet owners are responsible to clean up debris left by their pets. Marina reserves the right to bar any pet from the Marina.
Boat owners are allowed reasonable latitude regarding the care and maintenance of their boats. However, the following limits apply. Work above the rail or in the interior of the boat may be performed if it presents no hazard and creates no nuisance and does not interfere with other work in the immediate vicinity being performed by Marina employees or other boat owners, captains or crew. Other than employees or approved subcontractors of the Marina, and approved subcontractors employed by Boat Owner and registered in Marina, only boat owners or a boat owner’s employees who normally operate the boat may perform work. Approval to perform work other than normal maintenance must be obtained from the Marina Manager. Hull repairs, major engine repairs/overhaul, major sanding and painting, major carpentry/rebuilding projects will not be approved. Any approved projects must be accomplished strictly in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations; any violations will cause immediate stoppage of work, and may lead to cancellation of project approval. Repairs that may damage the docks are not allowed. Boat owners are liable for any damage to Marina property, which occurs as a result of such repairs. At the end of the day, all tools, lumber, supplies, etc., shall be neatly stored upon the vessel. Work areas shall be covered with tarps, in order to maintain a neat appearance. Work items and debris shall not be left on docks or finger piers. Debris that results from repairs shall be removed from Marina property by the boat owner. Outside contractors must be registered with the Marina, provide proof of current sufficient liability insurance and worker’s compensation insurance prior to commencement of work.
SEAWORTHY CONDITION OF BOAT
All boats are to be maintained in a sound and seaworthy condition. When this fails to occur and/or Marina considers there to be a risk of sinking, fire or other hazard, the Marina may, in its sole discretion, give the boat owner 30 days notice in writing in which to correct the problem(s). Failure to do so will be a DEFAULT in the terms of the License Agreement. The Marina reserves the right to perform periodic vessel inspections to determine the seaworthiness of any vessel.
Laundry shall not be hung on boats or docks.
Currently there are no electrical connections or Marina receptacles at Millerton Lake Marina, and no representation is made by Marina that any will be made available.
No weapons or shooting of any kind are permitted on Marina premises. Possession of firearms/weapons is illegal within a State Park. The Millerton Lake Marina is located within a State Park.
No portion of a boat (i.e. hull, bowsprit, plank, bow pulpit, etc.) shall overhang the walkway at any time nor extend into the waterway more than three feet unless approved in writing by the Marina. Private gangways will not be allowed to block access to another vessel. Boarding steps and ladders are subject to approval by the Marina. Boat owners shall keep their slip free from debris.
No wake allowed! Boat owners are responsible for damages caused by their boat’s wake regardless of compliance with posted speed limits.
Boat owners shall provide and maintain appropriate sized mooring lines in good working order and condition and will be responsible for tying up their boat so as not to damage other boats or property including the dock. If Marina employees have to retie a boat at any time, due to poor mooring lines, there will be a labor and material charge assessed against the boat owner. Millerton Lake Marina may have mooring line available for purchase. Check with the Marina Manager.
STAYING OVERNIGHT OR LIVE-ABOARDS
Staying overnight or living aboard a vessel when moored at the slip is prohibited.
CAMPING ON THE LAKE
Camping will only be permitted by State Park officials and is allowed by limited numbers in specified locations of the Lake. Camping permits must be obtained from the State Park entrance personnel and are not available at the Marina.
Do not run on walkways of dock areas. Deck shoes are suggested for your safety. If water or mooring lines, or any other thing is required to cross a dock, it must be routed underneath or in a recessed area so as not to present a tripping hazard. Water hoses may be connected to spigots only when being used.
Personal fueling of boats (carrying fuel in gas cans, etc.) is not allowed within the Marina. Storage of gasoline, fuel, or other combustibles on the docks is strictly forbidden. Fuel is not allowed to be brought into the Marina by Slip Holders or guests.
Children under 12 years of age are not permitted on the docks without a parent or responsible adult in attendance. Non-swimmers and young children are requested to wear U. S. Coast Guard approved life jackets when on docks or watercraft decks.
The use of motorcycles, motor scooters, foot scooters, skateboards, roller blades, skates, and bicycles is not permitted on Marina docks. Gas powered skateboards and scooters are not allowed at the Marina at any time.
No commercial activity shall be conducted at the Marina. Commercial activities include, but are not limited to, repairs, rental or leasing of boats, chartering of boats, use of the Marina address, use of a number of a telephone or facsimile on a boat in any advertising, brochure, letterhead, business card, or other commercial document. No advertising or soliciting is permitted in the Marina. Any commercial activity will result in termination of your Slip License Agreement without refund. The display of “FOR SALE” signs on a boat is not permitted without Marina approval.
Dock carts are currently available at the Marina for use by slip holders on a "first come, first serve" basis.
ENTERING UPON OR TRESPASSING
upon any occupied boat slip or vessel reserved or occupied by any other person without the expressed permission of those persons or the management of Millerton Lake Marina is strictly prohibited. Such intrusion or trespass shall be grounds for immediate eviction from the property of Millerton Lake Marina at the sole discretion of Millerton Lake Marina management.
NO SOLICITING OR SCAVENGING
is allowed in any area of the Marina. This includes the scavenging and/or collection of cans, bottles, and other recyclable materials from any containers or areas within the property and Marina dock areas of Millerton Lake Marina. Such actions or trespass shall be grounds for immediate eviction from the property of Millerton Lake Marina at the sole discretion of Millerton Lake Marina management.
Licensee is responsible for monitoring water levels around your assigned slip. Failure to remove your boat should the water level drop or diminish will result in costs for removal and storage. You may call the Bureau of Reclamation that controls the Lake water level at (559) 822-2211, or check their web site HERE. The call for information on Lake levels should not be substituted for a visual inspection of your boat/craft.
These rules of the Marina are subject to change and may be amended from time to time as deemed necessary by the Marina Management.
BASIS FOR SLIP RATE:
You will be charged based on the length of your boat.
PLEASE NOTIFY THE MARINA OF ANY UNSAFE, UNLAWFUL, OR HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS THAT COME TO YOUR ATTENTION.
All visitors and guests of Slip Holders not arriving in a properly identified Slip Holder vehicle must pay the Park entry fee and display proof of payment on the dash of their vehicle.
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Internet Piracy: Embrace Or Die
Internet piracy is rife. Pirates are stealing, sampling and remixing 'copyrighted' content to such a degree that in my opinion it is pointless fighting it. So why do we fight it? Why not accept it, embrace it, and adapt our business models to compete against it instead?
Recently I read "The Pirate's Dilemma: How Youth Culture Is Reinventing Capitalism" by Matt Mason, and it left an impression on me. Then I happen to chance upon piracy of one of my articles. This started me thinking about piracy and hence this article.
What is a Pirate?
A pirate is someone who uses or reproduces someone else's creative property without paying for it or obtaining permission (more on that later).
A pirate is someone who robs you on the high seas.
A pirate is someone who promotes efficiency, innovation an creativity, and has been doing so for hundreds of years.
Piracy is theft, there's no doubt about that. Companies and copyright owners lose money to piracy.
But piracy is everywhere nowadays. You only have to look at the millions of people who download movies, TV shows, music, software and ebooks without paying for it or obtaining permission from the author.
Raise your hand if you have ever watched a pirated movie, downloaded a song, or installed a software program without paying the author for it. I would be the first to admit I have consumed pirated material. Who hasn't?
But although piracy seems wrong, it has its place. Without piracy, the movie, recorded music, radio and cable TV industry might not be as we know it today.
Hollywood was Created by Pirates
According to Matt Mason, the film industry of Hollywood was built by pirate filmmakers.
Thomas Edison, the inventor of filmmaking, demanded a licensing fee from people making movies with his technology. Filmmakers fled to California where they thrived, unlicensed, until Edison's patents expired.
The recorded music, radio and cable TV industry are also the product and beneficiary of piracy.
In most civilized countries, a police force maintains order, detects and prevents crime, and enforces the laws. The Internet doesn't have a police force. So if someone copies your content, who's going to enforce the law?
Copyright owners are left to fend for themselves. You could hire a lawyer, but how many of us can afford to pursue every person who pirates our content. And what about pirates in countries that don't have much respect for copyright law? They are virtually untouchable.
On the internet, digital content can be reproduced thousands of times, in seconds, for minimal cost. The cost and viability of policing it simply is not feasible.
As a result, the Internet is full of pirates. And where pirates prevail, law-abiding businesses have to adapt to the new pirate economy or perish. If you think about it, piracy is just another business model.
Hundreds of Pirates Steal My Articles
One of the marketing strategies I used to get people to link to my Mike's Marketing Tools website is to allow other people to republish my marketing tips on the condition that they include my bio at the end of the article. Most people comply with the request, but some don't.
I happen to chance upon one of my articles on a website with no mention of me or the bio it was meant to include. At first, I was a bit upset. So I decided to find out just how many people have pirated that article without credit. According to Google, 381 webpages contain my article. And 108 (28%), or roughly 1 in 4 were reproduced by a pirate.
If we take that figure as a guide, it could mean a quarter of the internet's content is created by pirates. Who knows what the true figure is. What it does show is that content piracy is an issue content producers have to contend with.
So I know that 108 websites have pirated my article. What do I do about it? Should I go after every pirate and tell them to either give me credit where it's due or remove the article from their website? But how many would even comply? And how much time and effort would it take?
If You Can't Beat Them - Join Them
The thing you have to remember is that if you shut down one pirate, more will invariably take their place. So it would be a fruitless exercise. History has shown us that even major companies and even entire industries can't beat the pirates. Just look at the movie, music and software industry.
Hollywood creates about 500 movies a year - give or take. Why don't they release movies that people probably won't watch on the big screen and movies that aren't likely to be box office smashes in theaters, on pay per view TV, DVD and online all at the same time?
And why don't they charge less for access to these movies? I never quite understood why they charge the same price whether you watch a $200 million blockbluster, or a $5 million movie. That's like charging the same price for a hamburger and a steak.
Apple iTunes has shown that consumers are willing to pay for music downloads, if you give them what they want (singles), where they want (online) and how they want it (no copy protection).
The software industry has shown that you can build a business around free software (open source), by offering valued added services.
Web Content Are Open Conversations
Instead of fighting piracy, I think we should accept it and compete against it. Instead of wasting time worrying about content pirates, maybe we should think of the content that we create online (tweets, blog posts, forum posts, articles, etc) as 'conversations' instead of copyrighted content that we do everything in our power to protect.
Think about what a conversation is for a second. When you say something, we can't control what happens to it. If you give advice or tell a joke to some friends, a few might pass it onto their friends. They may even change it a bit. The chances are you won't be credited for the advice or laugh. How often do you tell a joke and give credit to the person you heard it from?
I'm not saying we should be happy that pirates steal our creative content. What I am saying is that instead of getting angry and fighting it, we should just accept that we can't beat piracy and instead should embrace it. What is important is that you use the 'conversations' to build your brand and compete with the pirates.
The internet not only levels the playing field, it also spreads the wealth about, so that it's not just earned by a select elite group of individuals and companies. The internet allows authors with average ability to earn a living from their books, music, videos, etc.
Instead of fighting movie, music, software, ebook and web content piracy, we should adapt and change the business model. If we embrace piracy as a business model, traditional business models can adapt and compete with it. If we don't, then the pirates will laugh all the way to the bank, like many do in China and other developing countries.
Name any major movie in the last few years and it's been available on DVD on the day of release - in China and other developing countries. By fighting piracy, the movie studios have lost millions, even billions, of dollars in revenue.
Musicians Thrive in China Despite Rampant Piracy
Some musicians have accepted piracy and even embrace it. Piracy is rampant in China, yet the music industry is thriving. The music industry would have you think musicians don't make a living in China where piracy is rampant. That can't be further from the truth.
Some musicians have learned that the money is not in selling their music on CD, but in selling more concert tickets at higher prices. The pirated music is merely a promotional tool and acts as a loss-leader.
Brazilian Music Embraces Piracy
In Brazil, the Tecnobrega music scene is on fire thanks to musicians embracing piracy. They don't just look the other way, they actively encourage it. Musicians burn their own CDs and beg street vendors to sell them without giving the musicians a cut of the profits. They also upload MP3s online and give their music away to DJs. It's allowed many more musicians to make a decent living from music than via the traditional business model. It also means more Tecnobrega music is being produced.
Pirates Fill a Need in the Market
Movie piracy exists and profits because movie studios don't fill the need demanded by customers. Instead of spending $200 million making one movie, maybe they could spend a fraction of that and in return offer cheaper movie tickets to consumers. There must be a price point where people are willing to fork out money to go watch a movie or buy a DVD instead of buying a poor quality pirated copy.
Consumers also want to be able to watch a movie how, when and where they want. But the movie studios insist on controlling distribution. Being a parent I now mostly watch the latest movies on pay TV. But even then it's usually 6-12 months after the movie has hit the theaters. If the movie studios gave me the option to watch newly released movies in my own home, I would gladly pay for the privilege. This is more about lifestyle, less about cost. But the movie studios don't seem to get that. Pirates do get it and are profiting from it.
Even internet marketing gurus are realizing that it's better to embrace piracy than fight it. Instead of charging people for newsletters and ebooks, they're giving them away for free. Once they build up a loyal following, they sell high priced marketing seminar tickets to those followers.
Internet piracy is here to stay. Accept it. Embrace it. Adapt your business model to compete against it, or die fighting it.
I finish by offering a quote by a wise man you may have heard of, "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change." - Charles Darwin.
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Property and Debt Division During Divorce: What You Need To Know
Dividing and Distributing Marital Property and Debt is One of the Most Complex Aspects of Any Naperville, IL Divorce
When either you or your spouse decides to file for divorce, one of the first and most common concerns that may come to mind is the division of property. To be sure, this is typically one of the most contentious issues in any divorce as you take all of your belongings and assets and must agree on what you will take and what will be left to your former spouse.
At Lawrence R. Surinak Ltd., we understand that the division of marital property can be an emotional, difficult issue in your divorce. All too often, spouses want the same family keepsakes and memories, only making a divorce more difficult and tolling on everyone involved.
We are fully committed to representing the best interests of our clients in all marital property division, whether emotional or financial in nature, to guarantee your future comfort and well-being.
What is the Difference Between Marital and Non-Marital Property?
There is a stark difference between marital and non-marital property. Distinguishing between the two is essential to ensure you maintain access to assets you acquired before the marriage and are given a fair chance at equitable distribution of marital assets during a divorce.
The terms marital and non-marital property are often confusing. That’s because these assets don’t include just physical assets but also refers to resources such as:
- Businesses and business interests
- Stocks and stock options
- Retirement, bank, and investment accounts
Of course, marital property may also include physical property like:
- Real estate, including the marital residence and any investment properties acquired during the marriage
- Furniture, artwork, and other physical items within the marital residence or other properties
Non-marital property also plays a prominent role in divorces. Some spouses will try to establish non-marital property as marital property, making it subject to division. However, spouses are entitled to non-marital assets, including:
- Assets acquired before the marriage
- Assets bought using non-marital assets
- Assets identified as non-marital in either a pre- or post-nuptial agreement
Depending on how assets are treated after a marriage (and if spouses are added to deeds or other assets), some non-marital property may become marital property.
Determining the Value of Marital Property Can Also be Difficult
Once all marital and non-marital property is established, there’s still an issue: Actually valuing the marital asset. In fact, determining the value of complex assets such as retirement accounts, stock options, and businesses can be time-consuming and obscure to most individuals.
At Lawrence R. Surinak Ltd., we work closely with trusted business evaluators, accountants, appraisers, and other experts to ensure the accuracy of all marital property values. Doing so makes it simple to better understand the value of what each spouse is receiving to ensure it is fair, as Illinois law regarding the equitable division of property dictates.
Contact Lawrence R. Surinak Ltd. to Discuss Marital Property in Your DuPage, Kendall, Kane, or Will County Divorce
Asset division is a complex, highly contested issue in almost all divorces. For this reason and others, it’s important to partner with a law firm that will represent your best interests and ensure you receive the fair and justifiable share of marital assets you’re entitled to.
If you have questions regarding the potential division of your marital property or would like to take advantage of a free, 30-minute consultation with Larry, contact our team at 630-470-9990. You may also ask a question or request a consultation using our convenient online form.
We look forward to speaking with you to better explain property division and address your concerns regarding the matter in your potential separation.
Division of Debt During Divorce: What You Need To Know
Like Most Matters in Your Divorce, the Division of Debt Depends on a Number of Factors
If you’re like most couples, you have a significant amount of marital payments owed between your home, loans, credit cards, and other sources. If you’re also like most couples, the division of debt in your Naperville, IL divorce will be a hotly contested topic as neither spouse is willing to take on more financial burden than they feel is fair.
Unfortunately, the division of money owed is not as straightforward as many couples would like. In fact, some spouses will be held accountable for costs incurred by the other depending on factors like income, assets, and health, among others.
At Lawrence R. Surinak Ltd., we understand the stress that comes standard with any proceeding. We also understand that the added financial weight can make it difficult to begin a new life following the finalization of your separation, making it all the more important to be held responsible for only that which is equitable.
This is why we proactively evaluate and analyze your financial status to ensure you aren’t burdened with costs you shouldn’t be responsible for. Doing so promises the hope of a better future free from the constraints of poor credit or decades of paying back money that isn’t yours to pay.
In Any Divorce, There are Multiple Types of Debt Commonly Divided Between the Parties
Whether you directly acquired the outstanding costs or not, you are responsible for any that has accumulated throughout the course of your marriage. Most often, marital debt includes the following:
- Loans that have been signed by both parties (i.e. for your home, vehicles, etc.)
- Credit cards that are in both names
- Debt from a company that is owned by both parties
Of course, every case is unique. As such, you might have additional payments owed in need of division, though these are the most common forms of debt to be expected.
The Court Analyzes Several Factors to Determine Which Spouse is Responsible for Which Debt
As you can imagine, there are many factors that influence how much of what is owed each spouse will be held responsible for.
- Your current financial situation and that of your spouse
- Your current and future earning potential and that of your spouse
- Whether costs were incurred in the interest of the other spouse (i.e. to put a spouse through school)
We diligently work to ensure you pay for money you owe and nothing more. We believe that doing so is the only way to guarantee a brighter future for our clients and ensure that the cost doesn’t burden one spouse beyond their means.
Protect Your Future by Contacting the Team at Lawrence R. Surinak Ltd.
If you’re concerned over the division of money owed in your separation or have questions regarding details unique to your situation, contact the team at Lawrence R. Surinak Ltd. Doing so guarantees a thorough, analytical review of all marital debts and the factors that influence the division of debt, giving you a future where you can effectively manage your payments owed and thrive.
Speak to Larry or a member of our staff today by calling 630-470-9990. You may also request a free, 30-minute consultation or ask any questions you have by contacting us via our convenient online form.
You deserve a future free from the burdens of costs you can’t afford. Contact the team at Lawrence R. Surinak Ltd. to ensure that that future is yours.
Common Questions About How Debt Works In Divorce
It’s expected that you and your spouse will have money owed to 3rd parties when you file for divorce. Between student loans, mortgages, auto loans, and credit card payments, many couples find themselves in a compromising position and concerned about the amount of money owed they’ll assume following their divorce.
While you may expect costs to be divided 50/50 in your divorce, this likely won’t be the case. Illinois is an “equitable distribution” state, meaning that if you stayed at home to take care of the kids while your spouse worked, you likely won’t be responsible for as much of the payments owed because they is outside of your means.
Of course, it’s important to consider what will happen to debts as part of your separation. After all, the weight of overdue payments will affect your future and as such, it’s important that you understand the implications of what you owe and how it will work in your case.
Are All Debts Divided in a Divorce?
Technically speaking, only marital debts are to be divided as part of a divorce. Marital debts are those acquired during your marriage and are considered distinct from non-marital debts, or those that were incurred by either you or your spouse before the marriage.
For example, if your spouse took out college loans before you were married in his or her name, you will likely not be responsible for the money owed. But if they used this degree to obtain a job that solely supported your family, you may run into additional complications. As you can imagine, there are some blurred lines between what can be considered a marital vs. non-marital debt and your Naperville divorce lawyer can help explain this to you.
What the Equitable Division of Debt Means
As we mentioned above, the equitable division of debt isn’t dividing what is owed 50/50 but “equitably” between the parties. Judges will consider factors such as your earning power, your ability to pay for what is owed, and your spouse’s assets compared to yours.
You can likely imagine that dividing joint debts, such as credit cards, are sometimes complicated because the collector can pursue either of you if the other doesn’t pay. However, you can always return to Court if your spouse doesn’t comply with your Marital Settlement Agreement to ensure you aren’t held responsible for money owed that you weren’t ordered to pay.
You Need an Experienced Divorce Attorney to Ensure Your Given a Fair Portion of the Marital Debt
The financials of any divorce case are often the most difficult to settle. By working with an experienced law firm, like Lawrence R. Surinak Ltd., you can ensure you’re given a manageable portion of marital payments owed.
To discuss your concerns or take advantage of your free 30-minute consultation, contact us at 630-470-9990 or request a consultation using our online form. We look forward to discussing your potential case and offering our expertise and support.
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The best, most complete four-door performance vehicle in the world.
Rain pelts the windshield, blinding me as I putter along at 20 miles per hour on an unfamiliar road in the Hill Country outside Austin, Texas. Forrest Gump would call it “the big, ol fat rain,” and the wipers of the Mercedes-AMG GT53 4-Door are struggling to evacuate it from the sleek windscreen.
These are not ideal conditions for testing the latest product from the mad scientists at AMG. And yet, here I am. While a boat might be more suitable, the GT 4-Door is hardly a bad place to suffer through this implacable weather. In fact, at the moment, I can't think of a vehicle I'd rather be sitting in. The Mercedes-AMG GT 4-Door is possibly the best performance sedan I've ever driven.
But the GT 4-Door is a car that spoils its pilot not only in the way it drives, but how it feels to sit inside. AMG's influence is impossible to miss, but it hasn't come at the expense of Mercedes-Benz's understanding of luxury.
You don't sit in the AMG GT 4-Door. With the high transmission tunnel bisecting the cabin, the almost race-like AMG sport seats grabbing body parts you didn't know you had, and the oversized steering wheel sitting in your lap, the GT 4-Door wraps around you, like the world's fastest cape.
The GT 4-Door wraps around you, like the world's fastest cape.
Atop that high center console is everything a driver could ever need. Display buttons have a pleasant haptic-like pulse when you press them, and they replace the traditional buttons for the transmission, stability control, and suspension firmness. Meanwhile, the infotainment system is a hybrid version of the new MBUX setup. It still runs last year's software and is missing the innovative voice assistant, but the primary interface is a slick touchpad that functions like the screen of an iPhone; accepting swipes, pinches, and presses with aplomb. It's all futuristic and forward thinking, but very familiar and easy to acclimate to.
The steering wheel is yet another great one from AMG. Soft Alcantara suede, a hash at 12 o'clock, and prominent wheel-mounted paddles are common in an AMG product, but the GT 4-Door features a few new touches.
At the 5 and 7 o'clock positions, tiny stalks jut out from beneath the airbag cover – the left side features two TFT displays with individual buttons that control the suspension firmness and rear wing, respectively, while the right side features a TFT display and a dial for quick switches between driving modes. It's like the setup Porsche introduced first on the 918 Spyder (and then the rest of the range), but better. The ability to change so many settings via the wheel is helpful in such inclement conditions.
Whether trying not to drown on Texan backroads or, as I spent the second half of the day doing, lapping at the Circuit of the Americas, the GT 4-Door's seats are functionally excellent, offering a wide range of adjustability and support. They include openings in the backrest for a racing harness, but even whipping around COTA, there’s enough support that they never feel necessary. The AMG GT 4-Door has simply some of the best factory seats on the market.
As the skies finally begin to clear, I start exploring the GT53 and its innovative powertrain even more. While not the headlining engine for the GT 4-Door range, the mild hybrid setup is easily the more modern and interesting of this car's three-engine lineup. Featuring a new 3.0-liter, turbocharged straight-six (yes, a straight six), the GT53 pairs its gas-fed engine with EQ Boost – Mercedes' new mild hybrid system. Essentially a starter-generator shoehorned between the engine and transmission that can produce up to 21 horsepower, EQ Boost also provides electricity for a 48-volt battery pack that powers the GT's headlights, infotainment and cockpit systems.
But don't let the mild hybrid bit fool you – the GT53 is still plenty quick, with 429 horsepower and 384 pound-feet of torque scooting it to 60 miles per hour in a manufacturer-estimated 4.4 seconds and on to a limited top speed of 174. A Prius this is not. And goodness, I’m glad for that, because the GT53 drives and sounds fantastic.
The 3.0-liter is sonorous, beautiful, and occasionally haunting as it belts out an inline song not sung by a Mercedes-Benz in two decades.
It's difficult to overstate how smooth and evocative Mercedes' new straight-six engine is. The 3.0-liter is sonorous, beautiful, and occasionally haunting as it belts out an inline song not sung by a Mercedes-Benz in two decades. Under hard throttle and in the most aggressive of the GT 4-Door's six driving modes, it pops and barks during high-rpm downshifts. Under more relaxed downshifts, the nine-speed's behavior and the engine’s note conspire to sound like a CVT running through simulated downshifts. It's very odd.
Meanwhile, the actual impact of EQ Boost is difficult to spot. The GT53 has plenty of power and is never short of torque, and along with the engine note, it's a delight to wind out. There are no histrionics with the 48-volt system. The GT53 doesn't feel like a hybrid; it feels like an AMG that just happens to be a hybrid.
But you didn't come here to read about the GT53. It's an impressive car, but the star of this show is and always will be the V8-powered GT63 twins. Yes, twins, because much like the E63, Mercedes will sell a base version of this car as well as an even more maniacal S model. Go with the middle child of the U.S. GT 4-Door range and you'll end up with a very respectable 577 hp, 590 lb-ft of torque, and a zero-to-60 time of 3.3 seconds. You don't want this car, not because it isn't good, but because the GT63S is much tastier.
The 63S takes the same 4.0-liter, twin-turbocharged V8, and turns up the wick to the tune of 630 hp and 664 pound-feet of torque. The sprint to 60 falls to just 3.1 seconds. That's faster than a Chevrolet Corvette Z06 (3.2 seconds), a McLaren 570S (3.4 seconds), and most conspicuously, Mercedes' own AMG GT R Coupe, which takes a leisurely 3.5 seconds to do the deed.
This car is effortlessly fast, providing supercar-like acceleration from a standstill or at freeway speeds. Along the big, back straight at COTA, I hear chatter about other journalists hitting 165 mph – and nudging up against 170 – before digging into the stout carbon-ceramic brakes. I'm preoccupied with the way the Texas scenery is passing by, though, and can't confirm these boasts.
But it's the way the GT63S' speed arrives on public roads – in Texas-sized dollops – that is most addicting. Stitching corners together in the hills (before arriving at the track) feels more like being launched via trebuchet than driving a car, as the revvy V8 and its ample twin-scroll turbochargers – crammed between the cylinder banks – make corner exit to corner entry an exhilarating experience.
Stitching corners together in the hills feels more like being launched via trebuchet than driving a car.
Credit for that particular sensation is at least partially due to Mercedes' 4Matic all-wheel-drive system and nine-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. The automatic engages with zero hesitation and executes shifts with the kind of brutality the Geneva Convention was meant to prevent. Meanwhile, all-wheel drive amplifies the grip from the 295 millimeter wide rear and 265 mm wide front rubber, meaning the only drama on launch or on corner exit is from the impact of G forces on the human anatomy.
Approaching those turns, be it on the track or on the road, is equally remarkable, owing to the GT63S' active rear-axle-steering system. Available as an option on the GT53 and as standard equipment on the V8 models, it works like most four-wheel-steering rings – the rear wheels turn in the opposite direction of the fronts at low speeds, increasing turn-in speed and tightening the turning circle by effectively shortening the wheelbase. At higher speeds, all four wheels turn in the same direction, having the opposite effect on the wheelbase and in turn improving high-speed stability.
That sounds all well and good, but a simple explanation doesn't prepare you for how aggressively the GT63 assaults corners. Turn-in is sharper and faster than any sedan I've ever experienced, period. It's difficult to fathom the poise and capability of this 4,400-plus-pound four-door. Driving the GT63S, it feels like I can simply look at a turn, regardless of speed, rip it to shreds, and then proceed onto the next bend.
And it's easy. Simple. Thoughtless. Automotive reviewers and marketers throw around the phrase “handles like it's on rails” a lot, but that's an apt description of what the GT63 does. On the track, I can't come close to exploiting this car's full potential. Every outing, I push harder and harder into corners, carry more speed, brake later, and get on the throttle earlier. And the GT 4-Door eats it up.
Even as the rain descends again, making the already green track even slicker, the GT63 feels unflappable. But it can and will get frisky if you ask it to. Mercedes installed six driving modes – Comfort, Sport, Sport +, Individual, Race, and Slippery – and added a new AMG Dynamics system to govern the input of everything from the stability control to the all-wheel drive to the rear-axle steering and rear limited-slip differential. There are four settings here – Basic, Advanced, Pro, and Master – granting drivers the ability to fine-tune their driving experience without doing something as rash as switching off the stability control system entirely.
In nearly the most aggressive setup (Race mode with the dynamics set to Master, but the stability control fully on), I can push the GT63 around the increasingly damp circuit without concern. There's enough slip to feel heroic, but the safety net is still firmly in place. Driving the AMG GT63 in these conditions is like wrestling with a wookie, but being able to choose if, when, and how severely it rips your arms out of their sockets.
Driving the AMG GT63 in these conditions is like wrestling with a wookie, but being able to choose if, when, and how severely it rips your arms out of their sockets.
The trickiest thing to figure out about the AMG GT 4-Door is where it fits into the market. AMG's first sedan is not a small vehicle, yet it feels more aggressive and less spacious than a Porsche Panamera (its closest rival), let alone the hulking BMW M5. It's a safe bet that the AMG can run rings around both. At the same time, this GT's refinement and comfort exceed the two-door vehicle it shares its name with – you can easily drive the 4-Door every day, but I wouldn't recommend doing the same with the AMG GT R.
Figuring out its place in the world is all the trickier thanks to the unknown pricing. Mercedes wouldn't let much slip, besides saying the GT53 would start north of the as-yet-unpriced CLS-Class (probably around $78,000), but less than the $90,000 S-Class sedan. As for the V8? Well, that's anyone's guess. In Germany, the GT63 starts at around 150,000 Euros ($176,000 at today's rates), which would be much higher than the $150,000 Porsche Panamera Turbo. The GT63S, meanwhile, rings up at 167,000 Euros ($196,000), or nearly $12,000 more than a Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid. If I had to wager, I'd expect the GT63 will start between $150,000 and $160,000, while the GT63S will sit somewhere in the low $180,000 range. That said, those are nothing more than educated guesses.
But if I had that kind of coin burning a hole in my pocket, I'm confident the GT 4-Door would be on my short list. It's a stunningly executed high-performance sedan that also happens to be perfectly usable every day. The smart money is on the GT53: the less frenetic, more affordable, plusher car for daily driving. But I dare you to resist the lure of the V8. Whichever AMG you choose, rest easy knowing you've got the new king of performance sedans sitting in your driveway.
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Can you blame Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for not being more in the loop on the U.S. Attorney firings? He’s been holding down not one but TWO demanding jobs. Check out the DOJ homepage (unchanged as of this morning, despite this Friday afternoon post by Wonkette):
If Alberto Gonzales can survive the revelation that “he” is actually a female, drug-trafficking terrorist — who may possibly be related to Wilmer Valderrama — then clearly he’s untouchable.
Meanwhile, in other Justice Department news (expect announcements later today or tomorrow):
The stylish pumps of the fabulous Assistant Attorney General Rachel Brand, whose last day as head of the Office of Legal Policy is today, will be filled on an acting basis by another former Kennedy clerk, Brett Gerry (OT 2000).
Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain, Mrs. Maura O’Scannlain, and two decades’ worth of law clerks and judicial assistants. (We apologize for the less-than-stellar quality of this pic. If you live in the D.C. area and would like to give us a tutorial in digital photography, email us.)
Our photo essay about the historic Pioneer Courthouse, in Portland, Oregon, is complete . But our coverage of “DFOpalooza” — the delightful weekend of events celebrating Ninth Circuit Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain’s20th judicial anniversary — isn’t quite done.
After the jump, more fun photographs. We traveled across the country to be there, so we intend to milk it for all it’s worth. And, of course, it’s good publicity for our awesome former boss.
If you’re a federal judge who’s wondering, “Why isn’t my law clerk reunion being covered this lavishly?”, there’s a solution: Invite us to your next one! (Hey Frank — we hear your house in Alaska is pretty sweet.)
Yes, ladies, he really is this handsome. Sorry, he’s taken. From left to right: Professor William Birdthistle; Mark Schneider, an AUSA in Chicago; Ninth Circuit Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain; Brian Murray (OT 2002/Scalia); Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Cohn (OT 2000/Thomas); Carol Murray (we think); Cindy Zmijewski Demers (in profile); Ryan W. Bounds, of the Office of Legal Policy (and the Office of Sartorial Counsel).
For those of you who don’t like eye candy (of the admittedly blurry kind), you’ll be happy to know that this is the last in our series of photo essay posts about the historic Pioneer Courthouse, in Portland, Oregon. The prior installments can be accessed here (scroll down).
The latest batch of pictures, showing former O’Scannlain law clerks on a judge-led tour of the renovated Pioneer Courthouse, appear after the jump.
Last week we wrote about the A-team of legal talent that Assistant Attorney General Kenneth L. Wainstein is assembling over at the Justice Department’s new National Security Division. Wainstein’s top hires include several members of the Elect, including high-flying legal eagles Brett Gerry (Silberman/Kennedy) and John Demers (O’Scannlain/Scalia).
A press release issued this morning announces Kenneth Wainstein’s other front office hires. And they include two brilliant and beautiful women (whom we have had the pleasure of meeting): Kathryn Haun (left), counsel to the AAG, and Jessie Liu (right), deputy chief of staff.
Those who followed UTR’s Superhotties of the Federal Judiciary contest — which, by the way, we will be reinstituting here at ATL — may recall Haun. She’s the blonde hottie who was photographed wrapping her arms around her former boss, Ninth Circuit judge Alex Kozinski (click here, scroll down). Back then we compared Haun to Naomi Watts; but upon further reflection, we’re thinking Cybill Shepherd.
Don’t let Haun’s dazzling beauty — a beauty that has ensnared multiple male members of the Elect — distract you from her accomplishments. Haun is one of the Elect herself, having clerked for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. She was also an associate at Sidley & Austin, and most recently was an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia (a post she is being detailed from to come to the NSD).
Liu, who will be Ken Wainstein’s deputy chief of staff, is similarly high-powered. Her gleaming resume includes Harvard College, Yale Law School, a clerkship with Chief Judge Carolyn Dineen King (5th Cir.), and a stint at Jenner & Block. Most recently, Liu was an assistant U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia, where she acquired a wealth of trial experience.
The luminous Liu and her disturbingly brilliant husband, law professor Michael Abramowicz — see NYT wedding announcement here — have two children. Great job, great husband, great kids. Who says you can’t have it all?*
Congratulations to Katie Haun, Jessie Liu, and Ken Wainstein’s entire team at the NSD!
* But please don’t hate Liu for her charmed life; she’s also one of the nicest and most wonderful human beings you’ll ever meet. Kenneth L. Wainstein Sworn in As First Assistant Attorney General for National Security Division [DOJ press release] Earlier: Congratulations to Ken Wainstein!
Okay, so he’s no Alice Fisher — the ball-busting, badass blonde, recently confirmed to head the DOJ’s Criminal Division, who has white-collar criminals shaking in their boots. But he’s still a highly regarded attorney — and pretty cute, too.
So ATL sends its congratulations to Kenneth L. Wainstein, just confirmed by the Senate as assistant attorney general for the Department’s brand-new National Security Division (NSD). Previously Wainstein served as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.
The Wall Street Journal — which criticized the Democrats for holding up Wainstein’s nomination 4-evah — describes Ken Wainstein’s new job as follows:
Mr. Wainstein is waiting to fill a new post recommended in last year’s Robb-Silberman report to further break down the “wall” between intelligence and law enforcement. The new post would bring Justice’s counterespionage, counterintelligence and wiretapping units under one Assistant AG. Mr. Wainstein would also be the law enforcement world’s primary liaison with the intelligence community.
President Bush approved the change, Congress authorized it while renewing the Patriot Act earlier this year, and Mr. Wainstein’s offices are humming with computers. All that’s missing is a leader.
Ed. note: The Asia Chronicles column is authored by Kinney Recruiting. Kinney has made more placements of U.S. associates, counsels and partners in Asia than any other recruiting firm in each of the past six years. You can reach them by email: [email protected].
Since late last year, things have been booming in Hong Kong / China in cap markets, especially Hong Kong IPOs. M&A deal flow has recently been getting a bit stronger as well. Although one can’t predict such things with any certainty, all signs are pointing to a banner entire 2014 for the top end US corporate and cap markets practices in Hong Kong / China. This is not really new news, as its been the feeling most in the market have had for a few months now and things continue to look good.
The head of our Asia practice, Evan Jowers, has been in Hong Kong for about 10 days a month (with trips every other month to both Shanghai and Bejing) for the past 7 months (Robert Kinney and Evan Jowers will be in Hong Kong again March 15 to 23), and spending most of his time there meeting with senior US hiring partners at just about all the major US and UK firms there, as well as prospective candidates at all associate levels and partner levels, and when in the US, Evan works Asia hours and is regularly on the phone with such persons, as our the other members of our Asia team. Our Yuliya Vinokurova is in Hong Kong every other month and Robert is there about 5 times a year as well. While we have a solid Asia team of recruiters, Evan Jowers will spend at least some time with all of our candidates for Asia position. We have had long standing relationships, and good friendships in some cases, with hiring partners and other senior US partners in Asia for 8 years now.
Are you challenged by the costs and logistics of maintaining your office, distracting you from the practice of law?
Many small firms are successfully moving part—or even all—of their practice to a virtual setting. This even includes multi-jurisdictional practice spanning several states and practice areas, although solo and small partnerships are still the largest adopters of virtual law.
Can you do the same? The new article Mobile in Practice, Virtual by Design from author Jared Correia, Esq., explores how mobile technology bring real-life benefits to a small law firm. Read this new article—the next in Thomson Reuters’ Independent Thinking series for small firms—to explore how a mobile practice:
Everyone is talking about the importance of Social Media in Corporate America. But it is relatively safe to say that most law firms and lawyers are slightly behind the social curve. Most lawyers, at minimum, use LinkedIn, for networking. Some even use Twitter for pushing out short, pithy content, while many have Blogs, where they write their little hearts out. The adage “it is better to give than to receive” is not always true though in the world of Social. In the Social World – it is best to listen, give back and engage.
Social Media is a communications tool that can deeply educate you about the needs and wants of your clients and prospects when used in conjunction social media monitoring and sharing tools.
Take this quick quiz and see if you know how to use Social to help you engage more with your clients or to better service the ones you have.
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An Indiana software company brought an action against its former employees and new employer alleging violations of non-compete covenants and interference with their business by divulging confidential information and trade secrets.
The plaintiff company, in an interlocutory appeal, asked the Indiana Court of Appeals to review the trial court’s ruling to exclude the testimony of its expert witness on economics and business valuation.
A computer-related business (“Company T”) employed the defendants (“the former employees”) in 2001. It had a company policy that required most, if not all, employees to sign employment agreements containing a covenant not to compete. From April 2001 to April 2002, all of the former employees left the company. With the exception of one individual, all of the former employees went directly to a company (“Company C”) that was in a similar business. Company C was told of the covenant not to compete by some of the former employees, but others believed they hadn’t signed one when they were hired by Company T.
The superior court granted a temporary restraining order finding that the plaintiff had a protectable interest in its goodwill (which included customer information and relationships and its employees) and reputation. The plaintiff, however, failed to pursue injunctive relief, and in August 2004, the former employees moved to dismiss the case for a lack of prosecution. That motion was denied and discovery continued until November 2009. The former employees then filed a motion for summary judgment challenging Company T’s claims. After an evidentiary hearing in March 2010, the trial court granted the motion for summary judgment for the defendants on all of the claims raised by plaintiff in its first amended complaint. As a result, the trial court concluded that the covenant not to compete was overbroad, unenforceable, and could not be reformed. The court also concluded that the information alleged to have been misappropriated by the former employees did not constitute a “trade secret” as defined in the Indiana Trade Secret Act. Company T’s other claims didn’t apply to the fact situation of the case.
The Court of Appeals in its first review of this dispute (Plaintiff I) held that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment because the covenant not to compete was overbroad. It also held that the court erred in granting summary judgment on the propriety of the confidentiality clause, as there were genuine issues of material fact that needed to be determined. Further, the appellate court said that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment on the tortious interference with a contract issue, but did not err in granting summary judgment on any of the remaining issues. The Court of Appeals affirmed in part, reversed in part and remanded the case.
On the second appeal, Senior Judge John T. Sharpnack of the Court of Appeals, writing for the court, said that the same issue still existed as to the claim for misappropriation of trade secrets. In the course of the Plaintiff I opinion, it noted that Company T had submitted a report by its economics expert, BSW. In an apparent attempt to create a genuine issue of material fact pertaining to customers in addition to those referred, Company T pointed to a report prepared by its expert that listed the customers that the company lost in the years following the former employees’ departure to Company C. Judge Sharpnack said that the report concluded that even though plaintiff lost almost all of its key employees, and it normally lost a percentage each year, plaintiff only guessed that some of the lost customers must have been attributable to the defendants’ actions. Mere speculation, the judge said, could not create genuine issues of material fact to defeat summary judgment.
While the appeal was pending, BSW produced a second report that examined sales information that Company C provided. Then, after the court of appeals decided Think Plaintiff I, BSW issued a third report. Company C moved the court to exclude BSW’s testimony from trial. The trial court granted the motion, and Company T filed this interlocutory appeal.
Company T argued that nothing in the appellate court’s decision in Plaintiff I made BSW’s testimony inadmissible. Company C responded that BSW’s testimony did not comply with the requirements for expert opinion evidence under Indiana’s Evidence Rule 702. The court of appeals stated the context of the expert’s report in Plaintiff I was whether it established causation for the loss of some of Company T’s customers. The appellate court concluded that the report did not give rise to a dispute of material fact on that point.
In BSW’s third report, rather than address the loss customers as he did in his first and second reports, the expert’s third report focused on damages sustained due to the loss of four specific customers identified in Plaintiff I, in addition to general profit erosion caused by the defection of the former employees to Company C. As a result, BSW’s third report and his proposed testimony at trial addressed questions not conclusively decided in the earlier appeal. Judge Sharpnack held that the doctrine of law of the case didn’t bar the admission of the expert’s testimony at trial.
As to whether BSW’s expert testimony was admissible under Indiana Evidence Rule 702, Company C argued that Company T was barred from addressing Rule 702 in this appeal because it didn’t discuss the rule in its initial appellate brief. The court of appeals disagreed. Company C made the argument in its Appellees’ Brief, and the plaintiff responded to that argument in its Reply Brief. Further, the parties extensively briefed the applicability of Evidence Rule 702 during the trial court proceedings, so the appellate court was indeed considering an issue that was presented to the trial court.
Both BSW’s qualifications as an expert and the reliability of the scientific principles upon which his testimony based were in dispute.
Company C argued that BSW was not qualified to render an opinion on causation. Judge Sharpnack explained that before an expert may testify about a subject, the proponent of the expert must show that the expert is competent in that subject. In addition, the proponent of expert testimony must show that the subject matter is distinctly related to some scientific field, business, or profession beyond that of the average layperson.
BSW had a Ph.D. in “Managerial Economics and Decision Science,” and more than 15 years of professional experience, including work as a professor of finance, an economist, and as a professional expert in business valuation, statistics, and financial damages. BSW also published articles on economic and business matters and presented to federal agencies, universities, and professional organizations on business valuation and other economic issues. His knowledge of economics and business valuation was beyond the knowledge of the average layperson. Therefore, BSW’s extensive education, training, and experience qualified him as an expert witness with respect in this area.
The parties also disagreed about whether BSW’s expert opinions were based on reliable scientific principles pursuant to Evidence Rule 702(b). Judge Sharpnack said that “the court must make a preliminary assessment of whether the reasoning or methodology underlying an expert’s testimony is scientifically valid and whether that reasoning or methodology can be applied to the facts in issue.” As part of this process, he said, Rule 702(b) directs the trial court to consider the underlying reliability of the general principles involved in the subject matter of the testimony, but “it does not require the court to reevaluate and micromanage each subsidiary element of an expert’s testimony within the subject.” The proponent of expert testimony must establish the reliability of the scientific principles upon which the testimony is based.
There is no specific test for determining whether expert scientific testimony satisfies Rule 702(b), Judge Sharpnack wrote. Federal courts have adopted the standard of Daubert, however, Indiana courts are not bound by it when analyzing evidence under their own state’s Evidence Rule 702(b). Nonetheless, the judge admitted that the Daubert principles were helpful. In determining whether evidence is admissible under Rule 702(b), the court will consider:
(i) whether the theory or technique can be and has been tested;
(ii) whether the theory has been subjected to peer review and publication;
(iii) whether there is a known or potential error rate; and
(iv) whether the theory has been generally accepted within the relevant field of study.
Judge Sharpnack commented further that the focus of the admissibility test was on the methodology of the theory or technique, rather than the conclusions generated. In addition, the Indiana Supreme Court’s adoption of Rule 702 reflected an intent to liberalize, rather than to constrict, the admission of reliable scientific evidence.
In this case, one of BSW’s reports reviewed numerous documents provided by Company T and Company C, and he spoke with Company T’s president and counsel in the course of preparing his report. In the report, BSW calculated plaintiff’s damages in two categories: (1) lost sales to four specific customers; and (2) general profit erosion caused by the defection of the former employees. The expert explained the basis for his calculations, identified the assumptions underlying those results, and the reasons why he compared certain data. He also took into account other potential causes for Company T’s losses. He indicated that his overall methodology was based on “the benchmark method” as described in a publication from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
In addition, BSW used this well accepted “yardstick approach” to calculate general profit erosion. BSW’s conclusions were based on scientifically valid, reliable theories within the field of economics. To the extent that the trial court’s ruling relied on Indiana Evidence Rule 702(b), the court of appeals concluded that the trial court “overstepped its gatekeeper role” and abused its discretion by excluding the expert’s testimony.
Many of Company C’s objections to BSW’s opinions in his rebuttal report were claims that BSW failed to express an opinion on causation. However, the judge explained, Company T was not obligated to prove every element of its claims through expert opinion.
The trial court’s ruling that BSW’s expert testimony was inadmissible at trial was reversed.
Source: Think Tank Software Development Corp. v. Chester, Inc., 988 N.E.2d 1169
(Ind.App. May 7, 2013).
By: Kurt Mattson, J.D., L.L.M.
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Top Best Hammocks Reviews
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1.Single Person Easy Travel Hand-Woven Mayan Artists of the Yucatan Nylon With Accessories Included Camping or Outdoor Hammock By Novica
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With nearly 100 5-celebrity evaluations, this lying loveseat is recommended for its comfort, durability, look and easy set up. Along with gentle, but supportive soft cushions, it provides a gliding mechanism, so you can put your feet up and rock and roll (although, not simultaneously.) Padded with ultra-long lasting glued leather-based, this reclining loveseat will avoid tears, rips and stainswhich is a good factor, since it also includes a storage compartment console (where one can conceal your snacks, obviously) along with a two-mug holder. Whether youre deciding set for a Blockbuster online excessive or viewing football together with your crew, this reclining loveseat provides the durability and comfort with out emptying your wallet.
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5.Sandell Polyester Hammock with Stand By Three Posts
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10.Hammonds Double Camping Harmmock with Stand (Set of 2) By Bayou Breeze
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Naga Integration Movement: A Historical Perspective
By: U A Shimray
Before the free India formally induct her Constitution, Manipur has already drafted Manipur State Constitution Act, 1947. In Constitution drafting, Maharaja of Manipur, Bodh Chandra Singh, invited Hill representatives including Athiko Daiho and Tiankham however; they demanded to incorporate a clause- “the right of any section of the hill people to secede at the end of the five year period, should the conditions within the Constitution not be satisfactory.” The Chairman of the Constitution Making Committee F.F. Pearson drew the personal attention of the Manipuri Maharaja to the dissension of the Hill people. However, it was not followed accordingly. The Constitution introduce as- “extend to the whole Manipur State inclusive of the Hill Areas saving that it shall not apply in any matter where a specific reservation of powers is made to any Authority in the Hills under the provisions of the Manipur State Hill (Administration) Regulation, 1947 (Chapter I: 2)”.
The Naga National League (NNL) headed by Athiko Daiho, in September 1946, was organised to consolidate Nagas of Manipur in order to bring together Naga people separated by colonial boundaries. In colonial period, the political department of the British Crown administered Naga areas of Manipur. The Manipur Maharaja and his durbar administered the valley areas. The Naga league categorically assert that they will not remain in Manipur since the Manipuri Maharaja had never conquered Nagas and declared that it would be impossible for the Nagas to preserve the best of their culture, tradition, customary laws and political practices. The movement expressed their strong desire to merge with the Nagas Hill district of Assam (now the present Nagaland state) through the boycott of the preparation of the electoral rolls in the Naga areas and the election to the first Legislative Assembly of Manipur in 1948.
Nagas protest against the dissection of the Naga Hills and sullen to the political arrangement of Manipur. A campaign led by the Naga League was launched during the Chief Ministership of Capt. Priyabatra Singh. The symbolic expression was “No House Tax Payment” to the Government of Manipur, but they decided to pay the tax to the Deputy Commissioners of the Naga Hills District in Assam. The Manipur Government took severe action against the revolting people, in which three persons were killed, four others received serious bullet injuries and Athiko Daiho and N. Modoli were arrested and imprisoned at Dum Dum Central Jail, Calcutta on 27 August 1948. The United Naga Council and Mao Naga Council resolved to observe 27 August as “Martyrs’ Day”.
The Naga People’s Convention (NPC) held at Kohima in 1957 pressed for integration of Naga areas. This was followed by Mokokchung Convention held in 1959, wherein the Sixteen-Point memorandum was adopted. The Clause 13 of 16-Point Agreement stress for the consolidation of contiguous Naga areas. In support of the Naga unification, Nagaland State Legislative Assembly have passed Resolutions, first on 12 December 1964 as, “It is hereby unanimously resolved that the Government of India be urged for the integration of the Naga areas adjoining the State of Nagaland to fulfill the aspirations by the Naga peoples’ Convention held at Mokokching in 1959.” The second on 28 August, 1970, the third on 14 September, 1994 and the latest resolution re-affirmed on 18 December 2003.
The Naga Integration Committee (NIC) of Manipur made an effort to the cause. On 26th July 1968, the NIC submit a memorandum to Smt. Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India stating for the integration of Naga area of Manipur with the state of Nagaland. The NIC’s memo wishes to integrate of all Naga areas within one administrative unit. It further states that integration would definitely strengthen the hands of the administration of the state of Nagaland and the solution of the present trouble there would become much easier.
First Convention of the Naga People of Manipur under the Sessional Chairman, James L. Kilakhe and Secretary Peter Pheiray was held at Mao (Gate) on 16th May 1970. The Convention unanimously resolved that, “the Naga people move to live together in one state has undoubtedly been motivated by genuine patriotic urge.” Convention acknowledges the Naga Peace Mission’s inclusion the Naga areas of Manipur into Ceasefire agreement is but recognition of the facts. The Convention outrageously condemns the delegation of few Nagas to New Delhi in demand of statehood for Manipur in the name of the Naga public. The resolution state that, “(T)he plain people and their Naga agents’ plea that on granting statehood to Manipur, the Nagas will cease their demand for integration into Nagaland State exposes only their political immaturity and utter incapability to measure the depth of Naga political mind. The talk of granting District Autonomy makes no sense at all. The Naga unilaterally uphold the sanctity of the16-Point Agreement.”
The Naga Integration Central Committee (NICC) under the leadership of Rev. Savino and T. Chuba, with its Headquarter at Kohima deliberated to work for early integration of all the contiguous Naga areas. The NICC meeting appointed Action Committee Members including Rani Guidiliu, Rishang et al. In the Executive Committee of the NICC on 21st October 1970 resolved to observe “Naga Integration Day” throughout Naga areas in the 20th November.
The NICC delegation including Chairman M. Savino, Rishang Keishing (Ex-MP, Gen. Secy, NICC), T. Haralu (Vice-Chairman, NICC), N. Theyo (Ex-Minister), Mason Riame (Joint Secretary, NICC), Kongsui Luithui (Joint Secretary, NICC), James L. Kilakhe (Joint Secretary, NICC)5, P. Shilu Ao (Ex-Chief Minister), K. Envey (Ex-Minister), NG Mono (Ex-MLA), D. Athuibo (Ex-MLA), TH Ngullie (MLA), Tokheho Sema (MLA) and M. Vero (MP) submitted Memorandum to Smt. Indira Gandhi on 9 November 1970. The memo says, “(T)he movement of the Naga integration of Naga territories, as a matter of fact, is nearly as old as the freedom movement in India. The movement gained momentum under the leadership of Rani Guidiliu which was in essence against the British Government who kept the Nagas divided into Naga Hills, Manipur and North Cachar of Assam…”
The General Meeting of the NICC was held at Shajaoba (Mao), Manipur on 22nd January 1972. The NICC emphasis and appeal to the Government of India and the Naga leaders to lose no time in resuming the negotiations, since protracted uncertainty and insecurity can only have the most harmful effect on the material, mental and moral well-being of the Nagas, as well as on the whole North Eastern region of India. Also, the resolution congratulates the Meiteis over their achievement of Statehood. And also appeal to lend their full support to the Nagas’ demand for the integration of all contiguous Naga areas.
What Went Wrong…
In spite of Nagas’ demand for integration, the state re-organisation upgraded Manipur into full-fledged state of the Indian Union in 1972. The upgradation strengthens the electoral politics in Manipur. NIC entered Manipur politics. This electoral politics bring new political paradigm vis-à-vis weakening the Naga integration movement. In other word, NIC entering into active politics of Manipur state eventually divert its aims and objectives.
The NICC also actively participate in the Nagaland State’s electoral politics. An eventual capitalisation of state politics deteriorate Naga integration movement resulting some members compelled to abandon NICC out of frustration whereas other continue their individual political game in the name of integration. The “intention” was clear in the NIC’s resolution of 23 March 1972 at Imphal, directing it’s MLAs to join the Ministry of United Legislative Party of Manipur and also to participate District Council election. This was followed by the political shift with the merger of some members of NIC to the All India Congress Party. The Joint Agreement for the merger on 4th August 1972 condition that, “the Congress Party does not oppose Naga Integration Movement and does not consider Naga Integration Movement as anti-party, anti- national, anti- state and unconstitutional activity.”
On the other hand, the 16-Point Agreement between the NPC and GoI (under the Ministry of External Affairs) open a new political corridor for the absorption to the Indian Constitution. With this agreement, the Nagaland Statehood Bill was introduced on 28 August 1962. The Bill entered as the Thirteenth Amendment of the Indian Constitution. The article was inserted namely 371(A)- Special Provision with respect to the State of Nagaland and accommodate many aspects of the 16- Points submitted by the Nagas delegations led by the Dr. Imkongliba. For instance, “no Act of Parliament in respect of- religious, social practices, customary law and procedure, ownership and transfer of land and its resources…” Unfortunately, the 16-Point Agreement was not adequately honour by the GoI. The important issues like “Naga areas under the Ministry of External Affairs”, “Consolidation of Contiguous Naga Areas” and “Transitional Period” are totally ignored by the government.
The Indian State has shown marked resilience in trying to accommodate the Naga revolt within the ambit of the Indian Constitution- for instance, creation of Nagaland State and the drawing of the Naga people into the democratic process being major success points. However, the pertinent issues raised by the Nagas remain unresolved. On the other hand, the success of creating Nagaland is eventual backlash political division among the Naga society. At the same time, encourage the Nagas to take part actively in the state’s electoral politics either in Manipur or Nagaland. The Indian policy to divide Nagas is crystal clear so that the unification movement is arrested and weakens the Naga insurgency.
Another misfortune to the integration movement is upheaval of insurgency politics that took the Naga civil society movement for the Naga integration as pre-mature politics based on Indian Constitution. At that moment, the Naga political movement is totally overshadowed by the concept of “sovereignty”. Also, the wisdom of Naga civil societies and integration protagonist simply drown itself into the electoral politics.
Ongoing Naga ceasefire and political talks opened a new political dimension based on ethnic politics and hegemony in the region. The recent introduction of “territorial politics” and revivalism of Naga civil societies’ demand for the Naga integration now play significant role in region’s politics. In other words, the old map, which the British had introduced, has become a major bone of contention between the different ethnic groups.
Naga unification process has already originated when the British unilaterally divided Naga Hills into Manipur, Assam and Burma with a vile motive of dividing them so that they might not be able to revolt against the British. This was done at the time when the Nagas were politically weak and disunited to resist their will and power. Indeed, Naga integration movement is not recent construct politics but have long historical struggle. But the Indian policy to keep the Nagas divided is clear. On the other hand, Naga civil societies could not sustain to the best due to the internal differences. At the moment, the Meiteis’ factor to the Naga politics vis-à-vis Naga politics “conditioning” the Meitei community puzzles government of India. The fact is the “conditioning politics” threatens the ethnic-co-existence in the region.
Naga integration/unification is an “unkind” word at the moment. And this is grossly misinterpreted in the present ethnic conflicts. The historical facts of the integration movement initiated by the Naga civil societies are misread overwhelmedly in the modern media. For the Nagas, unification and peace process is indispensable political agenda. Indian recognition “uniqueness of the Naga history and political situation” is important political steps. It is understandable that “uniqueness” and integration is nothing to be anomaly but shares the same political statement.
The 31 August 2005 Kohima rally for Naga integration is one historic moment for the Nagas. It again manifests the spirit of Naga to living together. If, the GoI is sincere enough to the Naga issue and Naga understand Indian commitment to the peace then the solution is not that far. However, one observation is that whenever, there is popular government in Nagaland and Manipur the word Naga integration can be troublesome
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We are told every day that our goal is “To grow in mind, heart and spirit to become leaders of the world.”
It wasn’t until this school year that those words began to sink in. As I stand next to my classmates and recite those words every morning, I finally understand the impact that my Catholic education has had on me. The past nine years I have been blessed with academic excellence. I have been taught many Christian morals and have met lifelong friends at St. Barnabas School.
The school is known for many things, but one of the most rewarding is the academic excellence. The teachers push you to do your best, and they never give up on you. When they say we’re a school where “No one gets left behind,” it applies to everyone. Every teacher ensures that every student understands and is ready to move forward from whatever we may be doing. We strive for nothing but the best, and we always accomplish our goals. Without the hard work and dedication our teachers put into their jobs, we would not be the students we are today.
Beside the fact that our teachers strive to make us better students, they push even harder to make us better people in the world. When it comes to the canned food drive, filling St. Nick stockings for the poor or simply helping a friend in need, I have been taught humility, compassion and love. St. Barnabas has shaped me into a person who would do anything to help a friend out or be there for someone in need. We learn more than just math, literature and science. We learn what it takes to be a follower of Christ.
I have not only gained knowledge but lifelong friends. I see the same people every day. Of course, we’ve lost and gained a few along the way. We have seen each other at our worst and at our best, and that’s what makes our connection so strong. We aren’t just classmates, we’re family.
Looking back on my nine years at St. Barnabas, I realize that I would not have wanted to be anywhere else. The experiences and the people I have met make leaving bittersweet.
My Catholic education means carrying Christ in my heart wherever I go, doing what is right even when it’s hard to do and to never stop loving those around me.
As I continue my journey through life, I’ll forever hold St. Bar-nabas in my heart while cherishing the memories and the people. St. Barnabas gave me something a different school would not have; I have never felt so blessed.
By Joseph Carper, eighth-grader
If you stepped through the front door of St. Barnabas School, a framed quote would catch your eye: “Let it be known to all who enter here: Christ is the reason for this school.”
This statement is not just a morale-raising catchphrase. At St. Barnabas and all Catholic schools our mission is to be a witness to Christ. All that we do is in formation to become Christ’s disciples in the world. Whether through academics, sports, service, prayer, extra-curricular activities or youth ministry, we are becoming Christ-like leaders of the world.
The pursuit of academic excellence is one of the most notable features of a Catholic school. Quality, driven teachers provide the backbone of the curriculum. The standards are set high, and everyone is expected to do their best to improve. This recipe is shown to be successful by our high scores and willingness to learn.
At St. Barnabas there is no lack of prayer or religious cultivation. We keenly study the Bible and how our faith affects our lives. Every morning we pray as a school and learn about saints, who equip us to be moral compass-carrying individuals in a world often full of confusion and hatred.
There is also a strong emphasis on student leadership.
When members of our community suffer a loss or tragedy, we suffer with them. We support one another when someone is down. The school and parish are filled with countless volunteers who help provide a great experience to all students.
No one is afraid to be themselves and to stand up for what they believe in; we are not affected as much by social pressure and fads.
We take our manners and values with us onto the fields and courts. All of our players understand sportsmanship and hard work, which results in an impressive athletic program. We pray after practices and before games, and we work hard to improve our skills. Participating in football, basketball, and volleyball has manifested this to me.
I have gained an invaluable education and social skills. I have no doubt in my ability to succeed. I know that wherever the river of life takes me, I will be a witness of Christ due to my Catholic education.
By Joseph Woodruff, eighth-grader
As I look back on my Catholic education since kindergarten, I realize that it has been a great privilege and blessed experience. St. Barnabas is the perfect school for me, offering many opportunities in service and academic excellence. The school excels in putting God first, always giving us chances to grow as a person and a child of God.
Service has always been a big part of the curriculum, and the constant focus has influenced me to become a better, more helpful person. The quarterly service hours made me really appreciate service and think of it not as homework but something I liked doing.
We pray throughout the day. God is always a part of class, and we often pray before class begins. I believe that because of all of the time devoted to reflection and prayer, there is less bullying here than at other schools. Every student is sincerely a good person and not judged by outward appearance.
One of my favorite things about St. Barnabas is the individualized attention that teachers give to students. The teachers and principal know all of us kids, and this helps our academic progress because they know our needs. I could talk to any of the teachers if I were struggling in or out of school, and they would try their hardest to get me help. That is what I appreciate – I trust my teachers.
I will miss St. Barnabas when I graduate. It has made me more prepared than I ever could have been somewhere else. St. Barnabas has challenged me to be my best, and that is what I have done. I am extremely grateful to have experienced such a wonderful school.
While Catholic schools bring the best out of their students, I believe that St. Barnabas is one of the best. I am greatly blessed to have had such an adventure at a school that will stay in my mind and heart forever.
By Hannah Tyler, fifth-grader
Words can’t explain how grateful I am for the Catholic education I get at St. Barnabas. I have learned so much about my faith and the right way to act in different situations. If I had to write about how many things my teachers have taught me about my faith, my hand would fall off.
One of the many things that I have learned is what it means to follow Jesus. Anyone can believe in Jesus – even demons believe in Jesus – but you have to really dedicate your time to Jesus.
We are extremely lucky to go to a Catholic school. One of the things we get to do is go to an amazing Mass every Wednesday. Sometimes I forget how lucky we are. Some people don’t have all of these things. At St. Barnabas we try to help. We do the canned food drive and St. Nick stockings.
At St. Barnabas everyone has amazing positivity. Every morning when I walk in there is always someone to greet me. Everyone is so nice. Going to this school is definitely going to help me in my future. I will know how to act more like Jesus. I am so lucky and grateful to go to this school. We are not just a parish; we are a family.
By Anita Conn, fourth-grader
You may think that school is all about learning to read and doing math. But at St. Barnabas it doesn’t matter who is the smartest kid in class. What matters is who is the kindest.
St. Barnabas makes me feel welcome and important. When students enter the school, the teachers greet them with an open heart and a smile to take them to class. The teachers want you to be the best you can be.
We have an all-school Mass, and we pray before lunch. A teacher would be more upset if you hurt someone than if you forgot to do a lunch count. It matters to be a kind person if you attend St. Barnabas.
If you took a tour of St. Barnabas, you could tell we are a Christian school. The students are peacemakers and love their friends and teachers. We aren’t perfect, but we try to do what Jesus would do every day.
St. Barnabas is an amazing school, and it helps me learn about God. The school has helped me to develop my personality and achieve goals. When I graduate I will take all of what St. Barnabas taught me and use it in high school and college. Love and encouragement is what St. Barnabas has shown me.
By Emily Gramman, sixth-grader
St. Barnabas has been around for 50 years, but this is my first year here. Even though I have only been here a short time, it feels longer. The school feels loving, caring, faithful and happy. That is what makes me feel good here.
You learn about your faith every day in religion class, and you go to Mass every Wednesday. I have learned so much about my faith, Jesus and the early church since coming here.
Happiness is everywhere. There are no worries, and you always have your friends to keep you happy. This is a blessing because you don’t want to be in a school where there is a down environment. You want a school where you are joyful. I have learned that happiness is a gift that you don’t want to let go of.
There are lots of good people and nice teachers. I have made many good friends since coming here. I have learned that friendship is a gift that you never want to lose.
If I ever leave St. Barnabas, I will definitely miss the feeling of community, the faithfulness and the happiness. I am happier now than before. I have grown so much in my faith these past few months. All of these things make me who I am, and I’m a better person now.
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Posted on 03 December 2013.
The US-based Carter Center deployed a team of 52 observers from 27 countries to monitor Kenya’s elections held in March 2013 at the request of the Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) ‘to provide an impartial assessment of the electoral process’. The Center’s ‘Final Report’ was released last week.
Below is a summary of the conclusions and recommendations contained in the Carter Center Report. To access the full 139-page report, link here.
KENYA’S ELECTIONS: CARTER CENTER OBSERVER MISSION FINAL REPORT CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Conclusions and Recommendations
In practice, the 2013 elections were a dramatic improvement compared to 2007, but the reform process is far from complete. The elections were largely peaceful and for that all Kenyans deserve to be congratulated, especially the presidential and other candidates who failed to win seats but accepted the results.
While the elections were relatively peaceful and well-organized, The Carter Center international election observation mission highlights areas for improvement. These improvements can be grouped into three main elements: legal reforms, political party practices, and election management.
Overall, Kenya largely fulfilled its obligations to ensure that a sound and comprehensive legal frame work was in place
Former US President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn
for the 2013 elections. Although the Center is disappointed in the several weaknesses, Kenya’s constitutional and legislative reforms provided Kenyans with the basic framework for genuine democratic elections.
The Carter Center especially regrets that the Kenyan Parliament failed to pass specific legislation to ensure that women would occupy at least one-third of all elected offices.
Another disappointment was the failure of the outgoing Parliament to introduce new political party funding regulations to govern the 2013 elections.
Kenya has embarked on an ambitious political and electoral reform project in the redesign of elected representation and the creation of an entirely new county level of administration.
Although it may be several electoral cycles before the specific effects of the electoral system become apparent, the overall framework creates more opportunities for Kenyans to seek elected office and participate in public affairs.
IEBC Chairman Ahmed Issak Hassan ‘did a good job’ says Carter Center report
The IEBC faced more scrutiny in the 2013 elections than any other Kenyan political institution.
Early problems with the tender and procurement of biometric voter registration equipment produced ripple effects throughout the entire electoral calendar.
Nevertheless, overall the IEBC appears to have largely fulfilled its mandate in these elections.
Issack Hassan and the other commissioners did a good job of balancing different pressures while trying to deliver on-time elections.
The IEBC largely met its responsibilities to build an accurate and comprehensive voter register under significant time constraints, some of which were beyond its control.
While the IEBC worked closely with outside partners to develop voter education programs, Carter Center observers noted a lack of technical and financial support from the IEBC in the implementation of these programs.
Nevertheless, high voter turnout and the number of valid votes cast reflect positively on voter awareness of the elections and how to cast a ballot.
Candidates, Parties, and Campaigns
Overall, Kenya largely met its obligations to ensure the right to participate in public affairs, including the right to vote and to seek elected office. However, the Center also observed the effects of highly differential levels of wealth and resources available to candidates, especially for the presidency and particularly for all women candidates.
Voting, Closing, and Counting
Kenya largely met its obligations in the conduct of polling and counting operations in the 2013 elections, despite the failed implementation of electronic voter identification technology.
Kenyans’ right to participate in public affairs, as voters, election officials, and candidate agents on election day was widely observed by the Center.
Tabulation and Results
Overall, Kenya partially fulfilled its obligations to ensure that the will of the people, as expressed through the ballot box,
Chief Justice Willy Mutunga ‘trusted individual’
was accurately recorded and communicated. Important provisions were implemented to increase transparency while maintaining adequate security for the integrity of the ballot box. However, several areas of improvement are evident.
There were several important differences in the administration of the results process in 2013 compared to 2007 that likely contributed to a broad acceptance of the outcome of the elections.
1. There appears to have been a popular renewal of public confidence in the judiciary with the improved vetting of magistrates and the appointment of a trusted individual, Willy Mutunga, as chief justice of the Supreme Court.
2. The IEBC systematically updated the results of the presidential election and less frequently the results of other types of elections with live public statements on TV and radio.
3. The presidential candidates themselves demonstrated their commitment to the electoral process and independence of the IEBC’s administration of the elections. They accepted the election results as credible and where they did not, as described in the next section, took their petitions to the appropriate legal channels.
Electoral Dispute Resolution
Kenya’s judicial institutions and framework for managing electoral disputes met the country’s obligations to provide citizens with the right to appeal in a timely and public fashion.
For future elections, The Carter Center makes the following recommendations:
To the IEBC
• Voter registration could be more inclusive by improving popular awareness, extending the periods for both registration and public scrutiny, and the deployment of a greater number of registration kits.
• The voter registration effort should be extended to facilitate the full enfranchisement of prisoners and hospitalized voters.
• The IEBC should refrain from using the “green book” to identify voters for any election as this manual register has not been stripped of its double entries and is a manual list of voters without the biometric data that provides the level of security set by the IEBC and requested by the Kenyan people.
• Measures should be implemented to improve registration in all regions and population groups where registration rates were well below average.
• The tender and procurement processes and/or management team should be reviewed and revised to ensure the independence of the IEBC and transparency and absence of corruption in contracting for supplies, equipment, and services.
• The principal technology applications acquired for the 2013 elections (notably, biometric voter registration, the electronic voter identification device, and the system for electronic transmission of provisional results) should be reviewed with specific attention to the integration of technology management and the IEBC’s other critical processes such as political party liaison, public information, logistics, and security.
• The structural organization of the IEBC should be reviewed with special focus on decision making and the publication of decisions, rules, and procedures.
• Voter education programs should be designed and conducted well in advance of any election. The
IEBC’s partnership with civil society organizations to conduct voter education was welcome but will be more effective if outlines and curricula are prepared in collaboration and in advance. The IEBC has a constitutional responsibility for voter education and should provide leadership in this regard.
• Should electronic voter identification technology be retained for future elections, the IEBC should do so only after a thorough assessment of lessons learned and a cost-benefit analysis that includes consideration of the high costs of the technology, staff training, and deployment of the equipment compared to the actual security provided to the voting system. If the electronic voter identification device is to be used again, logistical planning needs to be strengthened, especially to provide alternative ways to charge the device in areas where electricity is not widely available.
• The introduction of voter cards that are distinct from the issuance of identification used for other purposes should be considered, since it is well-established that difficulties of acquiring identification can lead to the disenfranchisement of women, pastoralists, and minorities.
Voting and Counting
• The procedures for the conduct of election day should be reviewed to avoid mistakes and contradictions and clarified for subsequent election manuals.
• The procedures for tabulation of votes should be established well in advance and be detailed so as to prevent inconsistencies in the processing of results.
• Polling stations with fewer than 100 voters should be merged with others to avoid wasting resources and to protect the secrecy of the vote.
• The number of voters per polling station should be reduced to 500 maximum. The streaming mechanism is too complex and confusing for voters who must appear in locations with many dozens of polling streams. The number of streams should be reduced at any one location or more locations created to avoid long queues and long waiting times to vote.
Tabulation and Results
• The IEBC is encouraged to provide detailed illustration of the layout of tally centers at constituency, county, and national levels with a clearly defined flow of materials and the responsibilities of election officials at each step. The procedures should also explain the review and audit of results by election officials to ensure adequate and transparent safeguards are in place. These procedures should be published well in advance and shared with all stakeholders.
• Access for elections agents and accredited observers should be accommodated at the constituency, county, and national tally centers so that they can adequately monitor the receipt, handling, and compilation of results. This will help to ensure the security and transparency of results and assist in detecting incomplete, inaccurate, or otherwise problematic tabulation forms and/or when administrative decisions at a higher level change the results that have already been released at a lower level.
• The IEBC should publish final official results from the polling station level through each phase of tabulation. Where results may not reconcile, for example because one or more polling station result was excluded from the tally for administrative or other reasons, this should be explained. Any discrepancies between the total number of votes cast across the six different elected offices should be explained.
To the Political Parties
• Change the calendar for the candidate nomination primaries in order to prevent party-hopping while ensuring due process is respected without jeopardizing the electoral calendar.
• Take all appropriate measures to strengthen the participation of women aspirants and candidates.
To the Government and Elected Representatives
• Review the electoral law and overall legal framework to ensure that all provisions and deadlines create a workable electoral calendar for the IEBC to implement.
• The 47 special seats for women, though a welcome measure, did not meet Kenya’s constitutional obligation to ensure at least one-third of all elected positions are filled by women. All political parties, especially those represented in the National Assembly and Senate, should work to reform the electoral law to meet this core commitment. Additional incentives could be provided to political parties to ensure a better representation of women in Parliament. For example, political finance legislation could provide financial incentives to parties in proportion to the number of women candidates.
• Introduce a political parties act that addresses the importance of equitable financial and other resources for political parties and candidates to create a more level playing field. Particular attention should be paid to campaign finance including possible public financing of parties, regulation of donations to parties, limits of campaign spending, and disclosure requirements.
• Based on an evaluation of the 2013 elections, assess whether or not modification of the electoral calendar inappropriate to either retain the conduct of all six elections on one day or whether separate election days are warranted.
• Establish and enforce a clearly defined campaign period.
To the Judiciary
• Continue the important reform process (e.g. strengthened vetting of magistrates) and establish clear performance targets to rebuild public confidence in the judiciary.
• Review the 2013 experience with electoral dispute resolution to generate a written record of best practice in electoral justice.
To the Security Forces
• Continue the initial improvements that have been implemented at the very top of the leadership hierarchy (e.g. public access and civilian review of key appointments) to re-instill the spirit of public service and accountability in the police force.
• Identify and address the challenges facing police in the conduct of their duties (e.g. conditions of work and wages, equipment and facilities) to provide incentives to individual officers to resist inducements from political actors, criminals, or other outside actors, especially during electoral periods.
• Enhance training in human rights and community policing for all members of the police force, with special reference to the intersection of electoral offenses and ongoing security concerns in Kenya.
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Relationships are a popular subject for authors. To read more about relationships, take a look at the list of books we have compiled below.
PAMF does not sponsor or endorse any of these books, nor does PAMF guarantee the accuracy of the information contained on them.
- For Young Women
- For Young Men
- For Families: GLBT Issues
- For Parents
- Religion and Sexuality
- Brumberg, Joan Jacobs, (1997). The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls. Random House, New York.
- Ponton, Lynn, (2001). The Sex Lives of Teenagers: Revealing the Secret World of Adolescent Boys and Girls. Dutton, New York.
- Thompson, Sharon (1995). Going All the Way: Teenage Girl's Tales of Sex, Romance, and Pregnancy. HarperCollins, New York.
- Knowles, Cynthia R. (2001). Up All Night: A Closer Look at Club Drugs and Rave Culture. Red House Press, New York.
- Donaghy, Bronwyn, (1999). Unzipped: Everything Teenagers Want to Know about Love, Sex and Each Other. HarperCollins, New York.
- Levine, J, (2003). Harmful to Minors. University of Minnesota Press.
- Eugenides, J. (2002). Middlesex. Farrar, Strauss & Giroux.
Back to top
For Young Women
- Respect: A Girl's Guide to Getting Respect & Dealing When Your Line is Crossed (2005), by Courtney Macavinta & Andrea Vander Pluym.
- Dilemmas of Desire: Teenage Girls Talk about Sexuality (2004) by Deborah L. Tolman.
- Girl Wars: 12 Strategies That Will End Female Bullying (2003), by Cheryl Dellasega & Charisse Nixon.
- Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls (2002), by Rachel Simmons.
- Raising a Thinking Preteen, by Myrna Shure and Roberta Israeloff, (2000).
- Deal With it! A Whole New Approach to Your Body, Brain, and Life as a Girl, by Esther Drill, Health McDonald, & Rebecca Odes (1999).
- Real Gorgeous: The Truth about Body & Beauty (1996), by Kazcooke.
- School Girls: Young Women, Self-Esteem, and the Confidence Gap, by Peggy Orenstein, (1994).
- The Girl Within (1989), by Emily Hancock.
Using the life stories of 20 women, Dr. Hancock identifies the turning point in a woman's life - the period between the ages of 8 and 10 and the onset of adolescence - when a girl crystallizes a distinct and vital sense of self, which she then loses in the process of growing up female.
- When the Breast Fairy Comes (2000), by Stacey Roberts. A combination of expert opinions, parental advice, and input from over 200 adolescent girls that will help the reader understand what their daughter is experiencing during adolescence.
- Field Guide to the American Teenager: Appreciating the Teenager You Live With (2000), by Michael Rivera & Joseph DiPrisco.
- Ophelia Speaks: Adolescent Girls Write About Their Search for Self (1999), by Sara Shandler.
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For Young Men
- Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man (1999). Faludi, S.
- Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood (1998). Pollack, W.
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- Unhooked: How Young Women Pursue Sex, Delay Love and Lose at Both (2007), by Laura Sessions Stepp.
- Sex Camp (2005). McNaught, B.
- Our Sexuality (2005). Crooks, R., & Baur, K.
- Rainbow Party (2005). Ruditis, P.
- The New Good Vibrations Guide to Sex (2002). Winks, C. & Semans, A.
- The Thinking Parent's Guide to Talking Sense About Sex (2000). Roffman, D.
- Choosing Unsafe Sex: AIDS Risk Denial Among Disadvantaged Women, (1995). Sobo, E. J.
- Love on the Rocks: Men, Women, and Alcohol in Post-World War II America, (2002). Rotskoff, L.
- The Dr. Drew and Adam Book: A Survival Guide to Life and Love (1998), Drew Pinsky & Adam Carolla.
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For Families: GLBT Issues
As many as 3 million transgender people live in the United States (according to the National Center for Transgender Equality). Transgender youth in particular may not know where to find support and resources. Luckily, there are some great books that will help questioning youth understand they are not alone.
Here is a list of them:
- Freak Show (2007), by James St. James.
A story about a teenage drag queen at an uptight private academy who wants to be not only accepted, but homecoming queen!
- Parrotfish (2007), by Ellen Wittlinger.
Did you know parrotfish can change gender? This is an idea that appeals to awkward Angela who wants to be accepted as Grady, and finds support in some unlikely places.
- Luna (2006), by Julie Anne Peters.
Luna is a great story about Liam who transforms himself into Luna every night with the help of his sister's clothes and make-up, but wants to stop hiding.
- Choir Boy (2005), by Charlie Anders.
Berry loves to sing and when puberty threatens to change his voice, this young man decides castration or hormones may be the answer.
- Morgan in the Mirror (2004), by C.C. Saint-Clair.
Morgan is a trans-man who decides to make a full transition to female.
In addition to the transgender resources, several resources are available for all GLBTQ youth:
- The New Gay Teenager, by Ritch Savin-Williams.
- Oliver Button is a Sissy, by Tomie DePaola.
- Asha's Mums, by Rosamund Elwin & Michele Paulse.
- William's Doll, by Charlotte Zolotow.
- ABC: A Family Alphabet Book, by Bobbie Combs.
- Who's in a Family?, by Robert Skutch.
- King & King, by Linda de Haan & Stern Nijland.
- Daddy's Roommate, by Michael Willhoite.
- Heather Has Two Mommies, by Lesléa Newman.
In addition to these books, the Rainbow Project has published its first annual GLBTQ bibliography for young readers, from birth through age 18.
This new bibliography contains 45 fictional and informational books copyrighted between 2005 and 2007 that validate same-gender lifestyles and experiences.
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- Boy Crazy: Keeping Your Daughter's Feet on the Ground When Her Head is in the Clouds (2006), Charlene Giannetti & Margaret Sagarese.
- The Real Truth About Teens & Sex (2005). Sabrina Weill, The Penguin Group, NY.
- Let's Talk About S-E-X: A Guide for Kids 9 to 12 and Their Parents, (2005), Gitchel S., & Foster, L.
- Everything You Never Wanted Your Kids to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid They'd Ask): The Secrets to Surviving Your Child's Sexual Development from Birth to the Teens (2004). Richardson, J. & Schuster, M.
- Talking to Your Kids About Sex: A Go Parents! Guide, (2002), Berkenkamp, L., Atkins, S.C., & Woglom, C.
- From Diapers to Dating (1999), D. Haffner. A leading educator's warm, practical, step-by-step program for helping you provide accurate information and your family values to your children.
- All about Sex: A Family Resource on Sex and Sexuality, Planned Parenthood (1993). A sex education primer for the whole family.
- Flight of the Stork (1994), Anne Bernstein. A must read for parents who are uncertain about how to talk to their children about sensitive issues, including sex and adoption.
- Now What Do I Do? Booklet from SIECUS designed to assist parents in giving their own messages to their children, (1996). Available at 212-819-9770.
- What is Happening to My Body Book for Girls: A Growing Up Guide for Parents and Daughters, L. Madaras, (1988). Suitable for children as young as 8 years of age, this book covers all the basics.
- What is Happening to My Body Book for Boys: A Growing Up Guide for Parents and Sons (1988), L. Madaras. Suitable for children as young as 8 years of age, this book covers all the basics.
- What is Going on Down There? Answers to Questions Boys Find Hard to Ask (1988), K. Gravelle.
- Girl Talk: Staying Strong, Feeling Good, Sticking Together (1997) Judith Harlan, illustrated by Debbie Palen.
- The Period Book: Everything You Don't Want to Ask (But Need to Know) (1996) by Karen Gravelle, Jennifer Gravelle, Debbie Palen (Illustrator).
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Religion and Sexuality
- What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality by Daniel A. Helminiak, Ph.D.
Media and Sexuality
- Sexual Teens, Sexual Media (2002). Brown, J, Steele, J., & Walsh-Childers, K.
- Totally Wired (2007). Goodstein, A.
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- I Want it Now: Navigating Childhood in a Materialistic World (2006). Bee-Gates, D.
- Where Should I sit at Lunch? The Ultimate 24/7 Guide to Surviving the High School Years (2006), by Harriet Mosatche & Karen Unger.
- The Teen Survival Guide to Dating & Relating: Real World Advice on Guys, Girls, Growing Up, and Getting Along (2005), by Annie Fox.
- What are You? Voices of Mixes Race Young People (1999), by Pearl Fuyo Gaskins.
- A Tribe Apart: A Journey into the Heart of American Adolescence (1998), by Patricia Hersch.
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Receive timely updates.
A Tale of Three Cities, Act Three
From: Keith Higgins <[email protected]
To: "Parking" <[email protected]
Keith Higgins wrote:
Dear Mayor Rybak, Metropolitan Council, and Metro Commuter Services, While I applaud your decision to enforce the 2-person per car pool rule and lower car pool parking rates to $20.00 per month in city garages in Minneapolis, I would like to point out that if one chooses to ride a motorcy-cle to work in Minneapolis, in an average 22-day working month, one would pay $88.00 for parking with the city and you don't get to park in the ramp, but beneath it. Weather permitting, I ride to work in Minneapolis every day, as do many other people I know who work in the city.
Car pooling reduces congestion, pollution, and saves fuel. Motorcycling also reduces congestion, pollution, and saves fuel. I submit that by implementing a monthly parking fee for motorcyclists equivalent to the fee for car pools, you would help achieve the goals of less rush-hour traffic, less pollution, and less fuel used.
I realize that motorcycle parking at the ramps is paid for with a small envelope in which the rider places money and deposits it into a box. There are several ways to implement a monthly parking fee for motorcyclists. One could give each rider a unique identifier to write on the envelope instead of depositing cash. One could keep a list of motorcycle license plates of registered riders and check it each day. Currently, the envelopes with money in them are hand-checked against the bikes parked in the ramp every day anyway. Or, you could give each registered rider registration slips to deposit instead of a deposit envelope.
The number of motorcyclists who park at the city ramps is small -if you dou-bled that number through an equivalent and fair fee as compared to car pool-ing, your administrative burden would be small, but the amount of fuel saved and road space gained would be great.
Thank you for your favorable consideration in this matter. Keith W. Higgins, CMSgt, USAF (Retired) Motorcycle Commuter, Downtown Worker
Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2003
To: Keith Higgins
Since the accepted definition of carpooling is to enter the garage or facility with two or more people a single individual on a motorcycle in not considered a carpool. We do agree that there is a fuel savings by commuting by motor-cycle. While several of our facilities do not allow motorcycle parking at all most that do already have a special rate for these people. Concerning the ques-tion of being able to park in the ramp we have implemented this rule because it is safer for the rider to park under the ramps or in a designated area. This does have some benefits such as easy exit. Should you have questions con-cerning a specific rate or ramp please contact the parking office at 612-673-
From: Keith Higgins
Dear person at "Parking" who didn't sign their letter,... You have missed the point.
I'm not saying motorcycling is carpooling -I'm saying motorcycling is at least as beneficial as carpooling, and motorcyclists deserve the same special parking rate as carpoolers. The special rate you mention "for these people" is $88.00 per month, taken at $4.00 per day. When compared to $20.00 a month for carpooling, it doesn't sound very special anymore.
I am asking for you to end discrimination against a group of people who are providing just as much benefit as carpoolers and set the parking rates for motorcycles at an equivalent rate to carpoolers. You can park 2-4 motorcycles in the space used by one car, yet you get 4 times as much money from each motorcycle as from the single car, if that car is a designated "carpool" car.
On a side note, I disagree with your contention that it is safer for a rider to park under the ramp. Have there been studies done? Were motorcycles ever allowed in the ramp? How many accidents of any kind have occurred in the ramps? The questions could go on and on, but I'd really like to focus on the parking rate issue.
Keith W. Higgins, CMSgt, USAF (Retired)
The argument whether or not motorcycling is as beneficial as carpooling also has never really been studied either, but to say you deserve the same benefits as a carpools are misplaced, these are after all completely different topics. The carpool program is to help reduce congestion on the roads corridors and in the Downtown area. Having a single occupancy motorcycle is not reducing con-gestion. Motorcycling to work may reduce emissions( debatable), and save fuel it is not a form of carpooling until you enter the facility with more than two people. Besides, motorcycles already do receive a reduced rate over the regular rates which is actually discriminatory towards single occupancy vehicles.
To say that motorcycling and car pooling are two different topics ignores the obvious -have you driven on I-394 and seen the HOV lanes? The Federal Highway Administration administers High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes (called Sane Lanes here) for the entire United States. Here's the entry about I-394 from one of their web sites. <http://hovpfs.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/overview.cfm> "Minneapolis, MN I-394 2 reversible 4.3 (2.7) 6-1 pm, 2-12 am weekends vary 2+HOVs" and <http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/Travel/traffic/hov/hovqalst.htm> where question 15 is about motorcycles: "Why are motorcycles allowed in some HOV lanes? Motorcycles are permitted by federal law to use HOV lanes, even with only one passenger. The rationale behind allowing motorcycles to use HOV lanes is that it is safer to keep two-wheeled vehicles moving than to have them travel in start and-stop traffic conditions. States can choose to override this provision of federal law, if they determine that safety is at risk."
When I was stationed in Washington D. C. and lived in Northern Virginia, the HOV lanes were going to be closed to motorcyclists because the state said it was too dangerous for bikes. A bunch of local bike clubs, led by ABATE of Virginia, set up 24-hour observation of the HOV lanes for a month or so. They counted bikes (and recruited people to ride up and down) and then reported their findings to the state -XXXXX riders and zero accidents. The state backed down.
I disagree with you, "Parking", that having a single occupancy motorcycle doesn't reduce congestion. Have you ever been somewhere where hundreds of thousands of motorcyclists come together? It's amazing -traffic continues to flow. Is it slow? Yes, but it doesn'tstop like traffic does nearly every day commuting in Minneapolis. I agree with you that motorcycling is not a form of car pooling -it is better than car pooling, as you aren't filling up all the space a car takes on the road or in a parking place.
My BMW is equipped with a catalytic converter, just like a car -it's emissions are much lower than almost any car on the road and gets 46 miles per gallon. Yes, motorcycles receive a reduced rate, which is 400% higher than the car-pool rate. In five days of commuting by motorcycle, I pay the same fee as one car pooling vehicle, where the fee is potentially split by two people.
How many cars could park in the space underneath the city garage where (potentially) 20 motorcycles park? Five? What is wrong with charging for the proportional amount of space used by a vehicle when parked? It's not as if people would be fighting to park their car underneath the ramp -it doesn't feel like the safest location available and I've never seen a patrol by the motorcycles. I could be mistaken -perhaps it's under video surveillance.
If the people in the single occupancy vehicles feel discriminated against since motorcycles receive a reduced rate as compared to single occupancy cars, then perhaps they should consider using an HOV as defined by the Federal government; a car with two or more occupants, a bus, or a motorcycle.
I simply seek to get the city to recognize motorcyclists for what they are -users of High Occupancy Vehicles that reduce congestion, save fuel, and reduce pollution, and give them the benefits of said definition, as the Federal Government does.
I find it tiresome to debate with an unnamed person -for all I know you're the webmaster. I have no way of knowing if you are in charge of parking and someone who could actually cause something to change one day, or if you are an intern who answers unsolicited email.
I have added the Data Center for the Metropolitan Council, as their customer relations email address doesn't work, and re-added my acquaintance and fellow rider Andy Goldfine at www.ridetowork.org, to the "cc" line, as I would like to make sure all interested parties have an opportunity to weigh in on the debate.
Keith W. Higgins, CMSgt, USAF (Retired)
MORE FROM MINNEAPOLIS/ ST. PAUL
Todd Holmes wrote:
I am forwarding on to you correspondence I recently had with Patty Carlson, Manager of TDM/ Metro Commuter Services. I hope this help promote the cause of Motorcyclists throughout Minnesota.
| From: Patty Carlson [email protected]|
Thank you taking the time to give us your comments. Motorcycles are per-mitted to use the HOV lanes both on I-394 and I-35W.
Patty Carlson, Manager
Thank you for your reply. However, I know that Motorcycle are permitted to use the HOV lanes as well as the non-metered HOV lanes. The point of my initial correspondence is that metc doesn't support motorcycles as an alterna-tive to the commute problem. METC supports Bicycles, why not motorcycles? If you haven't heard of them, there is a Minnesota non profit group 'Ride to Work' that parallels the effort of metc with a focus on Motorcycles. Check out their website <www. ridetowork. org.> As a government backed program, I would think you would be interested in supporting the entire community.
To: Todd Holms
From: Patty Carlson
Metro Commuter Services encourage alternatives to driving alone. We occa-sionally receive questions about motorcycles as well as biking and teleworking and refer them to other resources as necessary. I will look into the website you mentioned and if it works out for us, we can promote it in some upcoming newsletters and on our web site. I am not familiar with the group you men-tioned. Thanks again as we're always looking for ways to encourage people to quit driving alone... and motorcycles may be an alternative for some.
From: agoldfine_ [email protected]
To: Todd Holmes
I appreciate your efforts informing Patty Carlson about the value of trans-portation motorcycling. Each thing like this helps everyone who wishes to com-mute by motorcycle. Groups like METC are for the most part unaware of the potential of motorcycles. I'm a dues paying member of a group called the Association for Commuter Transportation and they are the association for all of the METC type organizations in the country. They are phenominally well funded and are basically a lobbying organization for the huge TEA 21 funds. Their interests involve van pools and stuff like that. Their style is like all the other lobby organizations that I am aware of. I have never been successful at raising any awareness from them about transportation motorcycling, or even having my letters answered. Like most of these organizations, the furtherance of their organization itself appears (to me) to be as high a priority as the con-tent and values. Having motorcycle inquirys included with teleworkers and bicycles as not being of concern to METC and of being "referred to other resources as necessary" is typical. We have a long road ahead of us as motor-cycling commuters. But stick to this and we will cause changes to occur that are favorable for riders everywhere.
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Pros: We're not sleeping on the floor; Simmons USED TO provide customer service- be persistent- BEWARE!
Cons: Mattress Land- stay away from them; funny how they fall under "Cons" :)
This is the bed that uses a bowling ball and bowling pins to demonstrate how wonderful it is.
Maybe... if you're a bowling ball.
We aren't, and we do not like this bed in the least.
We bought this bed at Mattress Land 2 1/2 years ago after being told it was a plush/firm mattress. I have back problems and prefer a firm mattress; he likes a softer mattress. So, this seemed a good compromise.
Within one week, we could see indentations on either side of the bed. The store's explanation: the pillow-top was settling, it would even out over time- "give it another week or two."
Two weeks later, the indentations were bigger and deeper.
The store said, "Oh, we're sorry, it's past the two-week comfort guarantee period, so we can't exchange it for you."
They wouldn't admit they blew us off on the same complaint within their guarantee period.
But, they did send someone out to look at the mattress. He first claimed to not see the indentations. After we insisted, he measured, claiming it was nothing more than normal mattress wear.
I pointed out that the 20-year-old cheap mattress we had prior still looked better. He had no comment, but shrugged his shoulders.
Anyway, they then said they still couldn't do anything, if we had any further complaints that we had to contact the manufacturer.
We did. Surprise: who did they say we should contact? Bingo: the store!
So, round-and-round we go.
At this point, the indentations are even bigger and deeper and don't go away no matter how you turn the mattress, the sidewalls both lean to one side, and there no "do-not-disturb" ANYTHING about this mattress. It disturbs me regularly.
We hate it!!
Incredibly, this awful mattress carries a 10-year non-prorated (and apparently, non-honored) warranty... Simmons has 7 1/2 years left of me disturbing them in return!
** UPDATE: (June 28, 2001)**
After writing this opinion, I once again contacted Simmons by e-mail; I got back the standard 'thanks for your e-mail, we'll get back to you.' Almost two weeks went by, so I replied to their reply with an 'I'm still waiting...' and lo-and-behold, I received a phone call yesterday!! The phone rep was apologetic, verified all my contact info from the e-mail, and said a field rep would contact us within 10 days to arrange an appointment to come inspect the mattress, box springs, and frame and help us out with this problem... PROGRESS!!
** UPDATE: (July 29, 2001)**
The field rep contacted us within the 10 days as promised. He told us when he would be in our area and asked us which day and what time would be most convenient for us. He said he would call us again the day before to make sure it was still okay. He called and, the next day, showed up not only on time, but a little early. He was extremely professional, explained he worked for a independent inspection company which only contracted with Simmons Company; his job was to obtain measurements and other information that Simmons needed to determine if, in fact, our mattress set was defective. He politely refused to offer anything in the way of an opinion; said it was not his place. He promised to send the information he gathered ASAP to his company, who would then forward it to Simmons. He said we should expect to hear again from Simmons in 2 to 3 weeks. That was 9 days ago.
Yesterday, we got a letter from the Simmons Company. I was almost afraid to open it, half-expecting bad news since it showed up so quickly.
I must say that Simmons sent a very professional letter telling us that they did determine in reviewing our claim, that our mattress set was defective. They offered us another set which they categorize as "equivalent or upgraded" in the current product line. The new set is in their newer, no-flip/no-rotate mattress line. The new set will be provided at no cost to us, will be delivered and set up at our home, and our old set removed at that time. Our new set will carry the balance of our original warranty which is 7 1/2 years, non-prorated. They must have put a special order (?) for us. They said when our product is ready, their carrier will contact us to arrange a delivery time. ...YEA!!
It's what I wanted all along- fairness.
What more could we ask for??
We are definitely impressed once again with the Simmons Company; and at this point would not hesitate to purchase another mattress set with their label.
But our next set still won't be from Mattress Land. Mattress Land remains the reason we had to put up with this situation for so long!!
(I'll be back with an update on the delivery process and let you all know what we think of the new mattress set...)
** UPDATE: (August 19, 2001)**
On August 16 we were contacted by a local freight service that they had a delivery for us from the Simmons Company. Bring it on over!
My husband accepted the delivery; the delivery guy brought the mattresses to the door. And that was it.
My husband questioned him about the removal of the old set and the set up of this new set. The response was that there was not any order for a pick up and that his job is simply 'delivery.' Like UPS, but bigger stuff. Plus, his company's policy prevents him from entering any house.
The delivery guy also added that he wished Simmons would stop promising set up and removal to their customers because it hasn't been the case yet (there's never been a pick up order and he isn't permitted to enter, much less set up) when he's gone out to deliver. (sounds kinda like he does this often...)
Needless to say, my husband was just thrilled by the prospect: just getting off a week of 12 hour shifts with no one at home to help, he now gets to dismantle the old bed, drag old mattresses around, then unbox the new set and drag them across the house to reassemble our bed.
Of course, it's close to 5pm pacific time, so there is no one to call at Simmons who is on the east coast where it is nearing 8pm.
And, at that point, we are left with box springs in the garage (which means one car in the driveway) and a king size wobbly mattress on end in the hallway.
I tried to call Simmons at noon on Friday (3pm their time), but they close at 230pm on Fridays! AUGH!!
...Better luck Monday.
So, the old mattress set remains with us for the weekend.
Our dilemma: Do we dump them? or, does Simmons want them back? (my opinion: they ought to take them back and disect them to find out what it is they keep doing wrong.)
So far, two nights on the new bed: It has quite a bit of fluff on top, but the fluffiness is lost to an extremely firm mattress. Much firmer than the old set. I do like it better than the old broken-down set we are 'trying to get rid of' but I'm not sure by how much- most anything would have been better. Firm is good, but this set has very little spring to it- just basically stiff. It's strange. It'll take getting used to.
One improvement: we aren't restricted to sleeping in the ravines that had developed in the other bed. We now have one level surface we can sleep anywhere on!
But, right off, while this set is supposed to be a Beautyrest Do-Not-Disturb mattress set, it's definitely no bowling ball bed- the slightest movement jars the whole bed. Every last bowling pin would fall down if Simmons tried to do their demonstration on our new bed. It's not to the point of feeling like you're being launched out of the bed like the old set, but you do feel any movement the other person makes just like with any traditional mattress set out there.
** CAVEAT EMPTOR **
FYI: If you decide to try out one of these beds, be aware that someone in Simmons' Legal Department decided to put a very specific disclaimer on the new Product Care and Warranty Instructions that come attached to the mattress. The old one only said that body impressions were normal and not a defect. This one states: "Impression(s) of 1 1/2" or less on the mattress in all sleeping ares are not considered a manufacturing defect."
Had the standards in this disclaimer been on our first warranty, I seriously doubt that our old bed would have been replaced.
How could any impression in the mattress possibly get worse than 1 1/2"?!? (that's deep!! the bowling ball would still have to be there when they measured!!!)
Hmmm... It sounds a lot like they just got out of any future warranty claims.
Quite simply: their new disclaimer is plain, old Bad Faith.
** UPDATE: (November 13, 2001)**
Well, it looks like this new No-Flip is working out so far. It wouldn't have been our first choice if we had been allowed to choose the replacement, but it has proven to be much more comfortable than our old broken-down pile of springs. It still has the strange "dense/no bounce" quality to it which we have gotten used to. And, I do have to admit that I don't ever wake up with a sore back or stiff neck anymore. That definitely counts for something!
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Marine witchcraft is one of the most destructive evil powers. Children of God must learn to deal with it.
Revelation 17: 1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: 2 with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Nahum 3:1-3: “Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery; the prey depart not; the noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the jumping chariots. The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcasses; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses.
Many nations and many lives will not advance unless this is dealt with. It is to be noted that practically in all nations there are people who worshiped bodies of water. These spirits are proud, mean wicked, heartless, and stubborn. They try to control trade and commerce
Ezek 29:1-3 “in the tenth year, in the tenth mouth, in the twelfth day of the month, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh King of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt: speak, and say, thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath sais, my river is mine own, and I have made it for myself”
In the beginning God created man to subdue the earth and have dominion over all the flesh of the sea, and over the fowl of the air and over everything creature that moveth upon the face of the earth.
The psalmist also confirms it as he wrote that God has made man to have dominion over all the work of his hand; thou has put all things under his feet. All sheep and oxen, yea and the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea and whatsoever passth through the PATHS OF THE SEAS.
The mandates every man lost devil through Adam’s disobedience has been restored unto us by Christ.
I am workmanship of God, recreated in Christ as a priest and king to reign here on earth.
Jesus Christ was made manifest that He might destroy all the works of the devil and when He was going, he said that greater works than He did I shall do.
Therefore as I go into this prayer, I hold in my hand the victory Jesus Christ purchased on the cross at calvary, when He made an open show of principality and powers.
I take my position in Christ as one given power to become a son of God, even joint heir with Christ of the kingdom of God, to execute judgment against every form of disobedience exhibited against the knowledge of God.
Greater is He that is in me than any power on earth and in the seas. I am born of God, and I have overcome the world with my faith.
In faith, I hand over my battle to God.
In faith, I come against evil strongholds of any marine kingdom.
In faith, I pollute your water with the blood of Jesus Christ.
In faith I overturn every queen enthroned against me.
In faith, I trample upon her serpents and scorpions.
In faith, I spoil her place and sent captives free and bind her.
There shall be no reinforcement or evil reunion of this power against me seal my confessions with the blood of Jesus and I cover myself with the blood of Jesus. Amen.
1. Any witchcraft practice under any water against my life, receive immediate judgment of fire, in the name of Jesus.
2. Let every evil altar under water upon which certain evil are done against me roasted, in the name of Jesus.
3. Every priest ministering at an evil altar against me inside any water, fall down and die, in the name of Jesus.
4. Any power under any river or sea remotely-controlling my life, be destroyed by fire, and I shake myself loose from your hold, in the name of Jesus.
5. Let any evil monitoring mirror ever used against me under any water, crash to irredeemable pieces, in the name of Jesus.
6. Every marine witchcraft that has introduced spirit husband/wife or child in my dreams be roasted by fire, in the name of Jesus.
7. Every agent of marine witchcraft physically attached to my marriage to frustrate it, fall down and perish now, in the Jesus name.
8. Every agent of marine witchcraft assigned to attack my fiancés through dream, fall down and perish, in the name of Jesus.
9. I file a counter report in heaven, against every water spirit in the name of Jesus
10. I pull down every stronghold of bewitchment, enchantment, jinx or divination fashion against me by marine witches, in the names of Jesus.
11. Let the thunderbolts of God locate and destroy every marine witchcraft covens where deliberations and decisions have ever been fashioned against me, in the name of Jesus.
12. Any water spirits from my village or place of my birth, practicing witchcraft against me and my family, be amputated by the word of God in the name of Jesus.
13. Let every spiritual weapon of wickedness fashioned against me under any river or sea be roasted by the fire of God in the name of Jesus.
14. Any power of marine witchcraft holding any of my blessings in bondage, receive the fire of God and release them in Jesus Name.
15. I loose my mind and soul from the bondage of marine witches in the name of Jesus
16. Any marine witchcraft chain binding my hands and feet from prospering, be broken and shattered to pieces in the name of Jesus.
17. Every arrow shot into my life from under any water by witchcraft powers, come out of me and go back to your sender in the name of Jesus.
18. Any evil material transferred into my body through contact with any marine witchcraft agent be roasted by fire in the name of Jesus
19. Every sexual pollution of marine spirit husband/wife in my body, be flushed out by the blood of Jesus
20. Any evil name given to me under any water, I reject it and cancel it with the blood of Jesus
21. Every image constructed under any water to manipulate me, be roasted by fire in the name of Jesus
22. Any evil ever done against me through marine witchcraft oppression and manipulation, be reversed by the blood of Jesus.
23. Every marine witchcraft present in my family, be disgraced by fire, in the name of Jesus.
24. I break the backbone of every marine witchcraft militating against my life with the hands of fire, in Jesus name.
25. Every work of marine witchcraft in my life, be destroyed by the blood of Jesus.
26. Every strongman from the water kingdom holding me captive, fall down and die in the name of Jesus.
27. Every deposit of marine spirit in my life be flushed out by the blood of Jesus in Jesus Name
28. Every marine power blocking my forward movement die by fire in the name of Jesus.
29. I release my life from the grip of marine witchcraft, in the name of Jesus
30. O Lord contend with those are contending with me in Jesus name.
31. Every trade mark of water spirits be shaken out of my life in the name of Jesus.
32. O Lord bring to my remembrance every spiritual trap and contract in the name of Jesus.
33. Let the careful siege of the enemy be dismantled in the name of Jesus.
34. Let the blood of Jesus erase every evil record fashioned against me in Jesus name.
35. I address every evil river in my place of birth with the blood of Jesus.
36. I refuse and I reject ancestral water covenants in the name of Jesus.
37. I bring the blood of Jesus against any marine spirit working against me in Jesus name.
38. I anchor the heads of water spirits harassing my life to divine judgment in Jesus name.
39. O Lord, smite the power of Leviathan in my life in the name of Jesus.
40. You Leviathan troubling my life, I put a sword in your heart and wound you now in Jesus name.
41. I put a hook in your jaw, in the name of Jesus and by the power in the blood of Jesus.
42. Any serpent programmed into my body, come out by fire in the name of Jesus.
42. Holy Ghost fire flush out the poison of the leviathan in my life in the name of Jesus.
43. Holy Ghost fire burn from the top of my head to the soles of my feet and flush out every marine spirit deposit in my body in the name of Jesus.
45. I pronounce jubilee upon my life in the name of Jesus.
By Dr Stella Emmanuel (Fire Power Ministries)
Prayer Line: Call # 712-432-0075 – Pin 835555# Everyday.
11pm – 12.30am US CST.
12am – 1.30am US EST.
9pm – 10.30pm US PST.
Tuesday Night is Deliverance NIGHT on the prayer line.
You can also get on the prayer line worldwide using Skype.
Add Skype contact:
freeconferencing.7124320075 or freeconferencing.0075
Click ‘Call’ to dial into the conference.
Locate the Key Pad and enter access code 835555# when prompted.
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In 1987, a wealthy Austrian entrepreneur named Dietrich Mateschitz arrived in Thailand with a killer case of jet lag. He tried a traditional drink known as Krating Daeng to cut through the brain fog and give him an energy boost. Mr. Mateschitz is now one of the richest people in the world, and his drink,Red Bull, is consumed by everyone from soccer moms who need a jolt to college kids.
Although there are many energy drinks on the market, Red Bull is by far the most popular, good old coffee notwithstanding. But what exactlyis Red Bull? Whatisthe magic combination in that hot pink drink that peps the step and wakes up the brain?
Red Bull Ingredients Breakdown:
Basically, Red Bull is a mix of sugar, synthetic caffeine, taurine and several B vitamins, all of which are well-known for their energy-promoting qualities. Take a closer look at some of the powerful drink’s active ingredients, which are listed on the back of the Red Bull can: Carbonated Water, Sucrose, Glucose, Citric Acid, Taurine, Sodium Bicarbonate, Magnesium Carbonate, Caffeine, Niacinamide, Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine HCI, Vitamin B12, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Colors.
Glucose & Sucrose: Do you recognize your old friend sugar? Red Bull has 27 grams of sugar per can, which is actually a little less than most soft drinks (Dr. Pepper has 40 grams) – but still a massive amount of the sweet stuff. Prepare for an energy rush – and then the inevitable crash. Sugarfree Red Bull contains the artificial sweeteners aspartame, acesulfame K, and sucrolose instead of sugar, which have recently been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Taurine: Taurine, or 2-aminoethanesulfonic acid, is an amino acid naturally made in the human body. Found in the lower intestine and a major component of bile, taurine is an antioxidant that helps to move minerals through the system and generate nerve impulses. Each can of Red Bull contains 1000mg taurine, and although Red Bull products containing the substance was banned in France for a while, at this point all bans are off and taurine is generally considered safe.
Caffeine: Red Bull contains 80mg of caffeine, about half of other soft drinks and about the same as a cup of coffee. Caffeine’s stimulating mental and physical benefits have been well documented, with some even arguing that coffee’s introduction to the Western World made the Industrial Revolution possible. Caffeine works by blocking adenosine, a sleep-promoting brain chemical, which in turn makes your body release adrenaline. Caffeine is the world’s most widely used psychoactive substance, and over-consumption can cause diarrhea, twitching, racing heartbeat, and nervousness – otherwise known as the “caffeine jitters.”
Glucuronolactone: This naturally occurring chemical is found in connective tissues and plant gums. A carbohydrate, glucuronolactone is a stimulant with mild anti-depressant effects that helps improve memory and concentration. It also has detoxifying qualities and can help remove waste from the body.
Inositol: Inositol is a chemical compound and mood-booster that helps the brain use serotonin, and can be found in many foods such as oranges, cantaloupes and high-fiber nuts and beans.
Niacin: B vitamin that helps with energy formation and use.
D-Pantothenol: Also known as vitamin B-5 or Pantothenic Acid, D-Pantothenol is an essential nutrient that improves mood, boosts metabolism and helps to turn fat into energy. Vitamin B-5 deficiency has been connected to a host of mental and physical health problems including acne, fatigue, muscle cramps and apathy.
Pyridoxine HCL: Otherwise known as vitamin B6, pyridoxine HCL helps the body to form red blood cells and use oxygen, improving mood and energy levels.
Vitamin B-12: Like vitamin B-6, vitamin B-12 helps form red blood cells for oxygen utilization.
Artificial Colors & Flavors: You didn’t think that glowing pink color was natural, did you? While Red Bull also uses natural flavors, every version of the drink includes artificial flavors and colors.
What About Bull Sperm and Urine? I Don’t See Them on This List
Despite the rumors and enticing urban legends, Red Bull ingredients do not include bull semen, bull urine, or any artificially manufactured stimulants from China. Taurine was first isolated from ox bile, and is indeed found in the large intestines of many animals. But rest assured that the taurine used by Red Bull is synthetically produced in laboratories.
While the word “taurine” takes its name from the Greek word for “bull,” the drink does not take its ingredients from the testicles of a bull.
Red Bull New Editions
Red Bull has recently launched five new flavors of its energy drink, each with a different color – and a few different ingredients: Summer Edition (kiwi), Yellow Edition (tropical fruits), Blue Edition (blueberry), Red Edition (Cranberry), Orange Edition (tangerine). Check out the full list of ingredients from the back of each can:
- Summer Edition: Carbonated Water, Sucrose, Glucose, Citric Acid, Taurine, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Sodium Citrate, Caffeine, Colors, Blue 1, Niacinamide, Pyridoxine HCI, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin B12.
- Yellow Edition: Carbonated Water, Sucrose, Glucose, Citric Acid, Taurine, Sodium Citrate, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Caffeine, Colors, Niacinamide, Glycerol Esters of Wood Rosins, Sucrose Acetate Isobutyrate, Pyridoxine HCI, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin B12.
- Blue Edition: Carbonated Water, Sucrose, Glucose, Citric Acid, Taurine, Sodium Bicarbonate, Magnesium Carbonate, Caffeine, Niacinamide, Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine HCI, Vitamin B12, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Colors, Blue 1.
- Red Edition: Carbonated Water, Sucrose, Glucose, Citric Acid, Taurine, Sodium Bicarbonate, Magnesium Carbonate, Caffeine, Niacinamide, Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine HCI, Vitamin B12, Natural Flavors, Colors.
- Orange Edition: Carbonated Water, Sucrose, Glucose, Citric Acid, Taurine, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Sodium Citrate, Caffeine, Colors, Niacinamide, Pyridoxine HCI, Calcium Pantothenate, Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin B12.
Eco-Friendly Production Practices
Red Bull strives to keep its carbon footprint as small as possible. Along with decreasing its can weight by 60 percent in recent years, the company follows numerousstrategies designed to minimize its environmental impact:
- 100 percent recyclable aluminum cans.
- Lightweight, compact cans for more efficient transport packaging that requires 40 percent less space than glass bottles and 30 percent less than PET plastic.
- Wall-to-wall production saves transport energy – cans are manufactured and filled at the same site, saving 6,641 tons of CO2 emissions every year.
- Eighty percent of energy used from renewable resources.
- Eco-Coolers use up to 45 percent less energy than conventional refrigerators.
Always remember to recycle your empty Red Bull can – recycling a can requires 95 percent less energy than producing a new one.
Transparency? Not So Much
Are you looking for a full list of ingredients for Red Bull drinks, including the new products? Good luck. On the website, the only ingredients listed are caffeine, taurine, B-group vitamins, sugars, and Alpine spring water. There’s no mention of Glucuronolactone, inositol, flavorings, or color. And when you search the website for ingredients, you get a list of blog posts about skateboarding, motocross, and hip-hop battles - which are all certainly cool ingredients to life, but not exactly what you’re probably looking for.
I contacted Red Bull four times to request a full list of ingredients for its beverages, and was provided with only a partial list - the same information on the website. After repeatedly requesting a complete list of ingredients, I was told “All ingredients of Red Bull® products are labelled on the can.” Not very helpful -- and not transparent at all.
Red Bull refused to tell me its ingredients, so in order to obtain the information for this piece I drove to the store and took a picture of the back of every flavor and type, which you can read for yourself below.
Red Bull Pop Culture Fun Facts
From early-morning athletes to the late-night club scene, Red Bull is a pervasive source of get-up-and-go. But you might not know some of these unfamiliar facts about the popular energy drink:
- Red Bull’s logo isn’t a bull. It’s a guar, or Indian bison, which is the largest bovine animal in the world.
- Red Bull’s original yellow-gold drink is actually berry flavored.
- The drink company has its own in-game island in PlayStation Home.
- Red Bull today is less sweet than the original Thai energy drink, Krating Daeng.
- Red Bull has its own record label, and the Red Bull Music Academy fosters up-and-coming artists (such as AWOLNation) with global festivals and workshops.
Red Bull: Healthy Energy Drink or Not?
There is certainly some accuracy behind Red Bull’s claims to “increase performance, increase concentration and reaction speed, improve vigilance, improve emotional status, and stimulate metabolism.” But what are the tradeoffs?
The truth is, you need sustained energy in a relaxed yet alert state, not energy ups and downs.
Well okay - sometimes you need the “up.” And Red Bull can certainly provide this – just make sure that you can allow your body time to rest for the corresponding “down” that will inevitably follow. If you can afford to give your body and mind some down time, then the quick stimulation from an energy drink might be worth it. Just remember that building up a sleep debt is bad for your system, and a good night’s sleep is one of the most effective (and inexpensive) anti-depressants in the world.
Is There a Better Energy Alternative?
A multivitamin taken once daily that contains all the B vitamins can help to give you sustained energy throughout the day. B vitamins in any form can upset the stomach, so whether you pop a pill or down a can of Red Bull, your body will be better off if it has some food in it to offset the B vitamins’ tummy-aching potentialities.
Is Red Bull Safe?
If you love Red Bull’s jolt however, rest assured that the most dangerous ingredients in the can by far are probably already two of your favorites: caffeine and sugar. All the other active ingredients are in very small doses that are not likely to hurt your system – however if you drink ten cans of Red Bull in a row, you WILL be shaking like a coca leaf and your stomach is probably not going to like you too much. However, the same thing would happen if you consumed ten cups of coffee.
Overall, Red Bull is a safe product in moderation. The trouble with energy drinks occurs when they are mixed with alcohol, such as in the popular “bomb shots” where a shot of hard liquor is dropped into a Red Bull and pounded – often multiple times. The stimulating effects of the energy juice can keep a person up and drinking, when they really should have passed out already and stopped consuming alcohol.
However, if you aren’t in the market for binge drinking and just crack open a can of Red Bull here and there to make it through your next meeting, then breathe easy. Red Bull is no tool of the devil, and sometimes even angels need an energy boost and a little help with their wings. -
Related on Organic Authority
In no way does OrganicAuthority.com promote drinking Red Bull or any other energy drink. Consult your personal physician for advice.
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MY PLAN. ? Who knows for sure?
I am thinking I will stay around here for one more day to see if there is any textiles or clothes being manufactured here. I have not seen any, and the center of the city is not the place for this to occur, but normally people have road side stands or market areas where they sell the things they make, even if they do not sell well. There were assorted factories spread out inside the dense trees, or jungle as I rode from Goa to here. They looked pretty organized at a high level, but at a low level India are very underdeveloped. There appears to be a lot of factories and industrialization that employs workers that have very little or no education. Although I do think they educate the people very well, it appears that there are some really rich people in this country that have factories. It is amazing to see a factory inside a predominantly farm community and wonder why they chose the location. It is hard to see the factories, and there are very small signs that they exist. I notice the good carrier trucks on the road and wondered where they were coming from, and also the smoke stacks and the architecture of the factory buildings. There is a saw tooth construction, and a… I am not sure what you call it construction of factory roofs. They really high ones have a vent or roof vent system that is large. Like a ridge row on houses, but ten times larger and the vent is about 15-25 feet away from the peak.
Outside of this city were some smoke stacks where they dried clay bricks. I would like to visit one of the clay brick manufacturing places, but I would need a motorcycle to get there or take a taxi and the taxi driver would fight me the whole time trying to take me to the pretty stuff and not what I want to see. Don’t think for a minute that a taxi driver does not spend time steering the tourist. He makes his money by taking you to his uncle, aunt, brother or someone giving him some extra commission. That fare is just half the pay.
MORNING MUSLIM PRAYER CALL
I was not sure, but I am pretty sure now that I am in a very Muslim city. It is about 5:30-5:45 in the morning and they are having mass prayer calls around the city. This is normally done with the assistance of loudspeaker systems strategically located in the city. Plus in the larger cities they compete or are in opposition. It is very pleasant in some countries where there is only one Mosque in the city. The sound of the litany is pleasant here in India, but in Iraq it was a very obnoxious sound due to the harshness of the Arabic language. Thailand could be very nice to hear also.
There is an indoctrination or extreme ritual with the Muslim and Catholic, Buddhist faiths that to me causes a lot of people from fear, shame, or coercion to feel a need or compulsion bridging on obsession to obey.
The clothes in most countries indicated the religion and are like motorcycle clubs or gangs wearing their colors. If you are not a member of the correct club or gang it could be a problem.
I have left the State of Goa, which was influenced by the Portuguese to be Christian to the State of Karnataka that I am not sure. It is a lot larger and the Encyclopedia does not make it clear on the religion or religions of the region.
Bill Gates of Microsoft and Sun Systems have set up large computer industries in Bangalore and Hyberdad. This is probably one of the greatest ways or best ways in my opinion to fight terrorist and win in the long run. In the short run they will increase, but religions need to secularize or stop wearing their colors and fighting with each other. The business world creates a different style, fashion, or dress code and abolishes the obeying of dress codes of religions.
Some would say this is bad, but business people do not normally go round killing each their workers and their clients, or potential customers, while religions do kill anyone that does not agree. It would make sense that the opposite is true, but in reality the religions kill more people then the business. Now sometimes the business, especially a few hundred years ago utilized the religious to create profit. This was a lot of a reason for the crusades.
Terrorism to me is similar to the French not wanting to talk English. The French know they are in a losing battle and will eventually all speak English in a few hundred years. The Muslim religion is having compatibility problems with the modern world of televisions and in the end will probably become a dead religion. Both are fighting back to retain their control. I do NOT think that all religions should exist and I do not think that a language must exist. Cultures will change and that is guaranteed. I do hope that people stop using cigarettes; it is part of the cultures of the world and should end, not by force but by people slowly learning they are killing themselves.
DHARVAD INDIA - Friday Morning
Woke up this morning wishing the stereotypes about countries were closer to reality. They would portray India as being very hot, but this morning it is very cold. I am very happy I purchased a sweatshirt in England of good quality; it is really needed in the mornings or very late at night. But this is winter for the Northern Hemisphere and I am in the Northern Hemisphere.
ARRIVED IN DHARVAD, INDIA
I arrived about 1:30 in the afternoon. It seem to have taken me about 7 hours to go 75 miles. Now that is slow moving. This is about the same type of speed as Guatemala. But I had a lot of connections to make to arrive here.
I saw everything along the way. Rice, cows, water buffalos, goats, farmers, people living in teepees. The number of single axel dump trucks was astounding. There was very few cars or motorcycles after we cleared the city, but the trucks were everywhere.
The people on the bus were nice and polite and helpful. No problems at all, and I think that most traveler just take the normal tourist bus, so everyone is quite excited to see me. I am starting to learn the way that travelers move from place to place and it is very predictable and a track more or less.
I did not take many photos because there was a guy between the window and he and me did not help. But I am sure I will get a lot soon of the countryside.
I left Goa State and entered Karnataka. As you travel from Goa to Karnataka you climb the mountains, then after you cross the border between the two states it become level or you start to go down. At the border they checked the bus, and it was similar to leaving a country. They had something called excise police. They grabbed a couple of boys that looked like they were smuggling whiskey, but I am not sure, they also have water in Whiskey bottles. Plus upon arriving in Dharvad they also sell whiskey here, so I am not clear on the problem.
THURSDAY MORNING - LEAVE ON BUS
It is nice to decide to leave. I have been very indecisive and now I am comforted by the thought of leaving and finding new places. This is difficult to do sometimes because I get into a comfort zone where I am safe, secure and know the territory. That makes life easier on one side, but often boring on the other. It is a compromise between boredom and security. I am not talking about safety. I am in a very safe country for the most part, but the security of knowing what to expect on a day-to-day basis.
But in the security of know the routine is the boredom. I have better watch my complaints though on trains or the Hoboes of the world may go on an attack. There is a conceptual idea that trains only travel by train.
I will leave today by bus from Benaulium Beach to Margoa. This will take about 20 minutes, upon arriving I will go get some money from the ATM and then I am off to what I think is Ponda. I am going to go check that. Yep, I am going to Ponda.
How this will work? I will go to Margoa, which I already know how to do and understand. There is a small bus stop just off the garden. I will walk around in there with my backpack on, and all the touts or hawkers that want to sell bus ticket will descend on me. I will say the word,
That may or may not understand that word. The may mean nothing to them and if it is not the place they are selling a ticket for, they will just try to convince me that is the place I should go. They will not really be selling tickets, this is a local bus, and they just take the money on the bus.
But maybe I will find the right bus. There are 3 locations in the center of Margoa to catch a bus. There is suppose to be another one north of the city, but they will probably put me on a bus toward there if that is the way I should go to go to Ponda.
The big problem in this whole mess is that they may try to point me to a train or something. The also will think in terms of a specific city. They may think that “Londa” is the place that you go, and even though “Ponda” is on the way, they will not put 2 and 2 together and say that I need to get on the “Londa” bus. In the end if I can get their brain to connect, I will find the right bus. The ticket hawkers in the entire world are sort of brain dead, they only hear or can think about city they are saying, and I must say it correctly or they do not understand.
But the great part about this is one I start to go east out of Margoa by bus, and then east is the only way to go by road. The road leading to the state of Karnataka is a big road and I will be able to keep on that road easily… I hope.
I have just drawn a paper map. I would use my guidebook map, but that has too many cities and information on it, and that is too confusing for them, they would take hours to just look at the colors of the map. I have maybe what you would call a stick map, or a line and dot map. It is much better to show a ticket vendor then a full on color map with all the highways and such. They probably have never seen one and this just confuses them and gets them all excited. They have seen maps, but they really only know Margoa and they would like to look at the map of all the state and the country and everything. But their world only exists in terms of Margoa, so why would I confuse them and show them the rest of the country or world. Plus I am trying to get on a bus, and that is my goal, not to try to teach them Geography.
The key to travel is to find what word is their hot word.
The words that could be the hot word here are…
“Ponda” = the next bigger city I would go to…
Or maybe Karnataka = this is the state I am heading towards. The problem is I could go south and find the state also.
I could say “East” but I have never found the North - East - South or West directions to be of any help.
I need to find the correct word. So I will say them all. But first Ponda and maybe Londa. If I get really worried I will show them the map. But I will for sure show the map after the guy says I am on the right bus, this will be to reassert that he knows where I am going. If I can get him with the big plan he will maybe help me to get on the next bus.
So far the India people are as about as helpful as rocks in this type of thing. They do not connect their brains up fast. The think of money and this is a problem, because they also consider any or bad, or just talking to be worth money. The act of helping is worth money even if they took me to the wrong place. I do not pay people for talking. I will give a tip or bribe, or baksheesh or whatever you wish to call it if the person can turn on the brain switch and really think. This is not common in the world. Most people think about what they are thinking about and do not think about what I am thinking about, even though it would help them to sell a ticket to me.
So I am going to pack now and leave. Bye - It is 6:25 here in the morning, by the time I get done, the sun will be up and they may actually have buses to Margoa. It is difficult to be sure.
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The Thinking Man's Exploitation Shockers --- Part One
The frustrated career of Val Lewton was both inspiration and cautionary fable for Hollywood insiders long before horror fans and writers began taking up his cause in the late sixties. No better evidence exists than 1952’s The Bad and The Beautiful, shooting within a year of Lewton’s death and basing its protagonist’s rise specifically, if not accurately, on Cat People lore and a "B" producer scavenging the lot for props to make his films. Industry folk must have talked lots about Lewton and why he rose and fell. There were few better object lessons on the peril of seeking art over commerce, nor a more effective argument favoring team play and sucking up to supervisors when necessary. Val Lewton held on to integrity, but little else. He was a talent to admire, but forget about emulating him if you wanted a future in movies. Sad stories like his were best told in eulogies. Those nine chillers he made (but were they really?) for RKO became scholarship bait long before we embraced (seriously) other Hollywood horrors. Like so many hard-luck cases, Lewton achieved immortality too late to do him any good (an early death at forty-six saw to that), but at least his family enjoyed bows he didn’t live to take. My recollection is of Carlos Clarens getting there first, though An Illustrated History Of The Horror Film was merely the initial Lewton celebration of a second wave starting in 1967. Bigger names recognized him earlier, but I wonder if James Agee and Manny Farber’s laudatory reviews during the forties benefited Lewton, or helped in bringing him down at RKO. I think that few people in Hollywood show in their work that they know or care half as much about movies or human beings as he does, said Agee. He and others praised Lewton as the remarkable exception to prevailing philistine standards. Former boss David O. Selznick may have done more harm than good when his post-Cat People congratulatory wire crossed RKO chief Charles Koerner’s desk. (It) is in every way a much better picture than ninety percent of the "A" product that I have seen in recent months. Other studios hopefully have extended such opportunities to would-be producers by the score without getting a result such as you have delivered at the outset. We know corporate intrigues and politics proved Lewton’s undoing. Were jealousies inflamed by these and other plaudits? Koerner was a supporter, but lesser RKO brass sniffed "too arty" when Lewton’s name and accomplishments entered commissary chat. The fact he kept to himself and avoided studio camaraderie raised hackles further (Lewton disliked shaking hands --- imagine how that played among vice presidents). Lesser talent had but to wait for things to go south. In Lewton’s case, that wouldn’t take very long.
The golfing party is here for a reason. These are the men who controlled Val Lewton’s fate at RKO. We read about denizens of the front office like Charles Koerner (he having lately expelled Orson Welles) --- that’s him on the right, flanked from the left by N. Peter Rathvon (RKO president), Robert Woolf (New York district manager), and Ned Depinet (RKO Radio Pictures president). Koerner was vice-president in charge of studio production, and on this 1942 occasion they were competing in the studio’s eighth annual golf tournament. Large decisions were doubtlessly made on those links. Perhaps they resolved to give Welles the heave around third green, and by fourth agreed to hire Lewton. Anyway, line-producing underlings weren’t invited to such matches. Lewton would be assigned to dream up stories for pre-fab titles these guys had consumer tested at a ceiling price of $150,000 each. Cat People initiated the series of budget horrors. It became what they called in those days a sleeper. Writer DeWitt Bodeen once estimated a four million dollar gross. Modern historians took him up on that tall tale, and further credited this modest show with saving RKO itself --- their biggest hit of that period (no, those would be Once Upon A Honeymoon, Hitler’s Children, and Mr. Lucky). Tempting to propagate such myths when we admire the man and his films so much. Cat People did earn $360,000 in domestic rentals. $175,000 came back from foreign. There was $183,000 in profit, an excellent return for a "B" (comparable The Falcon In Danger ended $91,000 in the black, while The Saint Meets The Tiger actually lost $25,000). You could only realize so much on pictures that generally played the bottom of tandem bills. Cat People opened on Broadway as a single, though the Rialto Theatre was not otherwise the sort of venue majors sought for prestige bookings. With a modest 600 seats and no balcony, the Rialto prided itself on ballyhoo techniques otherwise abandoned on the Great White Way. Front displays looked like Grand Guignol. Thriller engagements called for all-out chamber of horror enticement for passer-bys willing to enter and be horrified. Owner and operator Arthur Mayer was a well-respected industry veteran whose career dated back to silents. He thrived on lowdown exploitation. Having shepherded Paramount’s nationwide Panther Woman search a decade before (for Island Of Lost Souls), he knew how to dress a marquee. Mayer balked at the expense of print ads in The New York Times. With my limited budget, I had little money to spend on newspaper advertising, so I was forced to use the theatre front and the lobby for my major shilling. Replacing marble busts and objects of art with gargoyles and displays of torture instruments, Mayer proudly trumpeted the Rialto’s strictly masculine fare policy, reflecting his wish to satisfy the ancient and unquenchable male thirst for mystery, menace and manslaughter. Cat People's entrance shown here was the handiwork of his creative staff.
Critics enjoyed slumming at the Rialto. The theatre became a running joke in their columns. Like a flower of evil, the Rialto Theatre has endeared itself to a little coterie of necrophiles that haunt the area as a perfect rendezvous for Witches’ Sabbath and Walpurgis Eve celebrations. Admissions were the cheapest around for first runs. Cat People played in December of 1942 for a quarter before noon, forty cents to 5:00, and sixty-five cents to closing. Sometimes they didn’t clear house till four in the morning. You could even smoke in either of two side sections in the auditorium. Pretty punk for a Broadway engagement, but RKO could at least boast of having opened there when time came to sell Cat People among block-books to independent exhibitors. Larger audiences for Val Lewton’s understated chiller found it bringing up the rear behind big ticket crowd-pleasers like Springtime In The Rockies, with which Cat People played in multiple New York City theatres on the RKO circuit (as shown here) starting January 7. 1943. Though Betty Grable’s musical is barely remembered today, this was the kind of show that actually got those four million dollar grosses (in fact, Springtime In The Rockies took 4.4 million in worldwide rentals, making its estimated gross nearly twice that). The Hollywood host for Cat People was the Hawaii Theatre, whose boxoffice (as shown) was redressed with a sign reading Feed The Kitty Here. A presumably uncomfortable ticket seller sat inside an enormous cat head that covered the window, sliding both ducats and change along a feline "tongue" that draped toward the sidewalk. Cat People shared its first LA run with Warner’s The Gorilla Man, as shown in the above snapshot taken in late 1942. Despite critic’s applause, Val Lewton got little in the way of recognition from bosses at RKO. His compensation remained minimal. Koerner tossed a wet blanket when Lewton reminded him of Cat People’s success. The only people who saw that film were negroes and defense workers, he said. All RKO wanted from the horror unit was horror movies, preferably conventional ones. Fortunately for Lewton, I Walked With A Zombie, his second for RKO, maintained Cat People profits and extended his creative autonomy.
In the picture, the nurse walked with a zombie. The patrons walked out of the theatre, and the exhibitor walked around in circles trying to think what to do to make up for the loss. This was O.E. Simon’s trenchant commentary that followed his Menno, South Dakota booking of Val Lewton’s follow-up to Cat People. Was the producer determined to work against horror expectations as his series went on? I Walked With A Zombie and The Leopard Man suggested he was. People said they didn't understand this so-called horror picture (The Leopard Man). Business was light (Dewey, Oklahoma’s Paramount Theatre). Zombie’s negative cost crept $6,000 beyond the $150,000 limit RKO had set, and its worldwide rentals of $496,000 slipped below those of Cat People, though profits of $181,000 insulated Lewton for the present. He was now getting press recognition as a Merchant Of Menace, Sultan Of Shock, whatever lamebrain tag they chose to hang on him. Profilers wondered what made those chillers tick. Lewton dismissed the recipe as pure formula. The last thing this producer needed was a perception he took horror movies seriously. Ingredients required were plenty of "dark patches" and three bumps per show --- easy as plugging in a waffle iron so it would seem, though Lewton's creative team knew well the efforts he’d made to distinguish his thrillers from the rest. Always the last RKO employee to leave the lot at night, Lewton assumed final responsibility for every script page going before a camera. As with mentor Selznick, each set-up bore Lewton’s signature. Despite disappointment his films sometimes yield on first viewing, hanged if they don’t mesmerize upon further acquaintance. The problem in 1943 was impatience on the part of showmen accustomed to brightly-lit mummies and wolfmen chasing girls up trees. I Walked With A Zombie transplanted Jane Eyre to the tropics, just months before Fox did the latter with "A" money and bigger stars. The Leopard Man was no such thing, being devoid of man-into-leopard technics, and in fact, those apparent cat murders were a red herring for human villainy. Lewton kept snatching rugs out from under horror fans, and numbers were beginning to reflect their awareness of same. The Leopard Man cost $155,000. Domestic rentals were $303,000, with foreign $100,000. Final profits of $104,000 represented a steep fall from the first two entries. The Lewtons were now running even with, if not behind, the Falcon series. A serious, if inevitable, drop-off would begin with The Seventh Victim. Soon it would become a challenge keeping up with Tim Holt.
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Question: Is it permitted to photograph the sun, moon or stars?
Discussion: From the verse in Parashas Yisro, “You must not make images of what is with Me,” the Rabbis of the Talmud derive a Biblical prohibition against making images of any celestial bodies. Rambam explains that the Torah prohibits making these images so that people will not come to attribute Divine powers to them and worship them as avodah zarah. Thus it is forbidden to make an image of the sun, moon or stars.
What does “make an image” mean? How do we define “image” concerning this prohibition? The Rishonim describe three types of images:
Protruding (or raised) image — a three-dimensional replica.
Depressed image — an image carved into a substance.
Flat image — a two-dimensional painting or drawing on a flat surface.
Some Rishonim hold that the prohibition applies only to images which are raised or protruding; a depressed or flat image is not a true representation of a celestial body and may be fashioned.
Shulchan Aruch, however, rules like the majority of Rishonim who maintain that the prohibition includes a depressed or a flat image as well. In their opinion, a depressed or a flat image is a true representation of a celestial body, since from our perspective, the sun, moon and stars do not appear to the human eye as protruding from the heavens.
A minority view makes a distinction between a depressed image — which is prohibited, and a flat image — which is permitted. They reason that a flat image of no depth is not considered an image at all and is permitted to be painted or drawn. But most authorities equate a flat image with a depressed image, which the Shulchan Aruch strictly prohibits. The basic halachah follows the more stringent view.
Contemporary poskim debate whether taking a photograph of the sun or the moon is similar to drawing a flat image. Several rule stringently on this issue.
Note: Although a flat image is prohibited, this applies only to making an image where the intent is to represent a celestial body. For instance, it is prohibited to paint a shul ceiling with “stars,” since the intent is to represent the stars in the sky. But it is permitted to make images of the sun, moon or stars when there is no such intention. Thus, it is permitted to draw a Magen David, bake cookies in the form of a half-moon, give children a “star” on a homework assignment, etc.
Question: Is it permitted to draw (or photograph) part of the sun or moon?
Discussion: It is only prohibited to draw (or photograph) an image of the sun in its entirety. It is permitted to draw (or photograph) a part of the sun, or a partial view of the sun — i.e., a sun which is partially obscured by clouds or after it has begun to set and is no longer entirely visible. The same halachah applies to stars.
But it is forbidden to draw (or photograph) the moon in the beginning of the lunar month, even though only part of the moon is visible at that time.
The reason why the halachah permits making a picture of part of a sun or part of a star and forbids making an image of part of a moon is as follows: Barring extraordinary weather conditions, the sun and stars always appear to us in their entirety; creating part of a sun or part of a star, therefore, is not considered making an image of the sun or star at all. The moon, on the other hand, appears to us in different shapes at different times of the month; in the beginning of the month, the partial- moon is the actual appearance of the moon from our visual perspective. Thus it is forbidden to recreate that image of the moon.
Question: Is it permitted to create (or photograph) an image of the sun or the moon for instructional purposes?
Discussion: Shulchan Aruch rules that it is permitted to create images of celestial bodies if it is for the purpose of “study, to [better] understand [their nature] and to [be able to] teach [their laws].” Indeed, the Talmud tells us that Rabban Gamliel himself used various moon shapes to assist him in questioning witnesses who testified regarding kiddush ha-chodesh. But contemporary poskim are divided concerning the practical applications of this leniency:
- Some poskim permit creating these images only to aid in the study of practical halachah, as in the case of Rabban Gamliel.
- Other poskim permit creating these images as teaching tools for any area of Torah study, e.g., when studying the creation of the world in Parashas Bereishis or when learning about Yosef’s dream.
One should consult an halachic authority as to whether or not it is permitted to make an image of a celestial body if it is going to be used in a classroom science project, etc.
Question: Is it permitted to commission a non-Jew to draw (or photograph) an image of a celestial body?
Discussion: No, it is not permitted. Just as it is forbidden to instruct a non-Jew to desecrate the Shabbos on behalf of a Jew, so, too, it is forbidden to instruct a non-Jew to transgress any Torah prohibition on behalf of a Jew.
But once a picture (or a photograph) of an image of the sun, moon or stars has already been drawn or painted, it is permitted to leave it in one’s domain; there is no obligation to destroy or get rid of it. [This applies to depressed or flat images only; a protruding image of a celestial body may not be kept in one’s possession.] Thus, if a picture of the sun, moon or stars appears in a book or a newspaper, one need not cut it out.
1. Shemos 20:20.
2. Rosh Hashanah 24b; Avodah Zarah 43b.
3. Avodah Zarah 3:10; Sefer ha-Mitzvos, Lo Sa’asseh 4.
4. Other Rishonim, however, understand that this prohibition is a gezeiras ha-kasuv; see Chasam Sofer (Toras Moshe, Yisro), for an elaboration.
5. Ramban and Ritva, Avodah Zarah 43b.
6. Y.D. 141:4.
7. See Tosafos, Rosh Hashanah 24b, s.v. v’ha; Kessef Mishneh, Hilchos Avodah Zarah 3:11.
8. Darchei Moshe, Y.D. 141:5, quoting Maharam; Taz, Y.D. 141:13 and Pischei Teshuvah 6. See Beis Avi 2:75.
9. Rambam, Hilchos Avodah Zarah 3:11;Nekudos ha-Kessef, Y.D. 141:5; Chochmas Adam 85:5; Pischei Teshuvah, Y.D. 141:8; Darchei Teshuvah Y.D. 141:36, quoting Beis Shelomo; Rashash, Yuma 54b.
10. See Igros Moshe, O.C. 5:9-6, Minchas Yitzchak 10:72 and Shevet ha-Levi 7:134.
11. Minchas Yitzchak 10:72; Rav N. Karelitz (Avodas Melech, pg. 337). See, however, Shevet ha-Levi 7:134, who remains undecided on this issue.
12. Although in reality stars are spherical, nowadays the designated and universally recognized symbol for a star is the five-pointed “star.” Accordingly, one may not create that image, since it is that symbol which represents the celestial body of a star; Rav N. Karelitz, Avodas Melech, pg. 337.
13. See Nekudos ha-Kessef, Y.D. 141:5, who rules that only a tzurah gemurah is prohibited. Rav N. Karelitz (Avodas Melech, pg. 337) explains that any tzurah b’alma, such as a Magen David or a half-moon cookie, is permitted, since there is no intent to represent a celestial body.
14. Shach, Y.D. 141:25. Indeed, it is only prohibited to draw a picture of the sun together with its rays; there is no prohibition against making just a round circle that resembles the sun; Tzitz Eliezer 9:44-9, quoting several sources. [See Shevet ha-Kehasi 6:302-2, who rules that it is only prohibited to draw a red sun, the color in which it appears during sunrise and sunset.]
15. Shevet ha-Levi 7:134; Rav N. Karelitz (Avodas Melech, pg. 337).
16. Darchei Teshuvah, Y.D. 141:38 and 51.
17. Darchei Teshuvah, Y.D. 141:38; Shevet ha-Levi 7:134; Rav N. Karelitz (Avodas Melech, pg. 337).
18. Y.D. 141:4.
19. Note that Chochmas Adam and Kitzur Shulchan Aruch omit this leniency altogether, which leads Minchas Yitzchak 10:72 to suggest that nowadays, there are no practical applications of this leniency.
20. Rav N. Karelitz (Avodas Melech, pg. 337). This appears to be the view of Chasam Sofer, Y.D. 128.
21. Shevet ha-Levi 7:134, based on Nekudos ha-Kessef who permitted, in part, the publication of machzorim that contained a drawing of the twelve constellations because the mazalos can be better understood when viewing them.
22. See Meiri (Avodah Zarah 42b, s.v. din acheirim), who seems to permit creating images of celestial bodies
23. Shach, Y.D. 141:23.
24. Entire paragraph based on Chochmas Adam 85:6-8 and Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 168:1 (see Az Nidberu 8:59). See also Darchei Teshuvah, Y.D. 141:34, quoting Lechem Rav.
Weekly-Halacha, Text Copyright © 2012 by Rabbi Neustadt, Dr. Jeffrey Gross and Torah.org.
Rabbi Neustadt is the Yoshev Rosh of the Vaad Harabbonim of Detroit and the Av Beis Din of the Beis Din Tzedek of Detroit. He could be reached at [email protected]
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The warts are small rough protuberances benign, well-defined, which form in the epidermis (the outer layer of the skin). They are usually a few millimeters in diameter but may be larger. They result from an infection caused by a human papillomavirus (HPV) virus and can be contagious. They are most often painless and do not necessarily require treatment. Children and adolescents are the most likely to be affected.
Warts most often appear on the fingers or feet, but can also be on the face, back or other parts of the body (elbows, knees). They can be isolated or form clusters of several grouped warts.
It is estimated that warts affect of 7 to 10% of the general population. A study in a Dutch primary school in 2009, however, found that a third of children had one or more warts, located mainly on the feet or hands.
Types of vulgar and plantar warts
There are several types of warts, depending on the type of papillomavirus involved. Their appearance also varies depending on where they are located. Here are the most common forms:
- The common wart: this wart takes on the appearance of a hard and rough dome of flesh-colored or greyish color. In general, she appears alone. It can form especially on the knees, elbows, and feet (toes), but more often on the hands and fingers. Rarely painful (except when located near or under the nails), it can, however, be troublesome.
- Plantar wart: As the name suggests, the plantar wart is located on the sole of the foot. It can go unnoticed for a moment. Looking closely, one can nevertheless observe a rough nodule. The plantar wart can be painful due to the pressure exerted by the weight of the body. It may feel as if it is deep, but it is always in the outer layer of the skin, the epidermis.
- Other types include: filiform warts (located on the eyelids and around the mouth, in children), flat warts (usually grouped on the face, back of the hands and wrists), myrmcia (on the sole of the foot, with blackheads), mosaic warts (underfoot) and digitalis warts (often on the scalp). The finger warts result from the stacking of several warts, which forms a kind of tiny “cauliflower”.
|Genital warts or warts are a special case. They are caused by a different type of HPV and can pose health risks (for example, in women, condyloma increases the risk of cervical cancer ). Moreover, they treat each other differently. It will not be discussed in this sheet. For more information, consult the sheet Condylomes.|
The contamination can be direct (skin to skin) or indirectly (by objects that had contact with infected skin, like socks or shoes). The wet soils of swimming pools, public showers, beaches, and sports centers are particularly conducive to the transmission of plantar warts. In addition, some HPVs can survive for more than 7 days on a dry surface.
The virus is introduced under the skin, by a small crack or a wound sometimes invisible to the naked eye. If the virus is not neutralized by the immune system, it triggers a multiplication of cells in a specific place. Exposure to the virus does not automatically show warts, because the immune system of each one reacts differently and can be more or less effective to fight this virus.
On average, 2 to 6 months elapse between exposure to the virus and the appearance of warts. This is called the incubation period. However, some warts can remain dormant for years.
In an infected person, warts can also spread from one part of the body to another. They say they are self-contagious. Avoid scratching or bleeding a wart, as this increases the risk of spreading it.
Most warts go away without treatment after a few months. Several studies have shown that two-thirds of warts disappear without treatment in less than 2 years. However, in some people, they may be chronic.
Complications of vulgar and plantar warts
Despite their unattractive look, warts are usually not serious. Even when they are scratched, they rarely become infected, but it is recommended not to do so. In addition, unless it is a plantar wart or is located near a fingernail, they are usually painless.
That said, some complications are still possible. The appearance of one or more of the following symptoms should prompt a doctor.
- A wart that persists, multiplies or reappears, despite the house treatments;
- A painful wart;
- A wart located under the nail or deforming the nail;
- A suspicious appearance (in exceptional cases, a wart may be malignant). Some skin cancers may also be mistaken for warts;
- Signs of infection, such as redness around the wart
- Spread to other parts of the body;
- Back or leg pain caused by a painful plantar wart (limping or bad positioning of the feet when walking);
- An inconvenience related to the location of the war.
Diagnostic of vulgar and plantar warts
To make sure that this is a wart, the doctor first inspects the lesion. Sometimes, he uses a scalpel to scrape it: if it bleeds or if black spots are present, it indicates the presence of a wart. Very rarely, the appearance of the lesion leaves a doubt about the diagnosis. The doctor can then perform a biopsy, to make sure it is not cancer.
Symptoms of vulgar and plantar warts
- One or more small, rough, well-defined skin growths that usually appear on the hands, toes, soles, faces, elbows, knees, or backs;
- Small black dots in the outgrowth. These blackheads are not the “roots” of the war, but rather small blood vessels that have formed due to the rapid growth of the wart;
- Sometimes, itching;
- Sometimes a pain (especially in case of the plantar wart).
Note. Plantar warts can be confused with corns. However, they are free of blackheads. In addition, corns are usually located in areas of skin that are under pressure or friction. The doctor or dermatologist will be able to make the correct diagnosis.
People at risk for vulgar and plantar warts
- The children and teenagers, especially those who have a brother, sister, classmates who have a wart.
- People whose skin tends to dry out and crack, as well as those who suffer from the excessive perspiration of the feet.
- People with the weak immune system. This can be caused by a disease (cancer, HIV infection, etc.) or by drugs (especially immunosuppressants). In addition, in these people, warts are often more difficult to treat.
For plantar warts only: walking barefoot in public places (swimming pools, changing rooms, public showers, beaches, sports centers, etc.).
The prevention of vulgar and plantar warts
|Basic measures to prevent warts|
|To prevent plantar warts, avoid walking barefoot in public areas, especially in gyms and showers, and around pools.
To avoid contagion
Medical treatments of vulvar and plantar warts
|Important. Pregnant women and people with diabetes or other health problems that interfere with blood flow should avoid treating their warts on their own using pharmacy products. They should rather consult a doctor. For warts that occur in infants, consultation is also advised.|
Treat or not treat?
Common warts, especially in children, sometimes disappear spontaneously within a few days. In adults, healing is often much longer, but two-thirds of warts disappear spontaneously before 2 years. Since these are benign lesions and the treatments are sometimes harmful to the skin, it is not always justified to start treatment. There are various reasons for treating a common or plantar wart: the discomfort they create (physical or aesthetic), the pain, their multiplication, the risk of contagion or complications, etc.
No matter what treatment is used, it does not completely eliminate the virus. Once the wart heals, the virus remains in the epidermis and can reactivate. It is the immune system that keeps it under control, but recurrences can be common.
|You should never try to remove a wart with a sharp instrument, such as a razor blade or a knife: the wart can become infected, bleed and spread, and leave a scar.|
Treatment will depend on the age of the patient, the type of wart and its location. Most treatments require several sessions (especially for plantar wart, more resistant to treatment). Doctors tend not to treat plantar warts if they are not painful. There are many treatments, but none offers a total guarantee.
It is possible to have to try several treatments before solving the problem. Finally, let us mention that the placebo effect is quite powerful in the treatment of warts. Indeed, the application of placebo solutions displays cure rates ranging from 0 to over 70% (with an average of 27%).
Products based on salicylic acid. Many salicylic acid products (some of which also contain lactic acid) are available over the counter and can work well, especially for common warts (eg Duoplant in Canada, Duofilm in Canada, Compound W and Off-Ezy in Canada). The effect of salicylic acid is comparable to that of a burn: after application, the skin becomes withered and whitish. Every day, a thin layer of this withered skin is removed. The acid also creates inflammation locally that could help the immune system fight the virus. It is important to follow the manufacturer’s instructions carefully and apply the product daily to be effective. These treatments are usually followed for 3 to 4 weeks.
The concentration of salicylic acid varies from one product to another, between 10 and 60%. The concentration chosen will depend on where the wart is and how resistant it is to treat. Some products are in the form of a liquid, some of gel or dressings to be placed on the war. It is not recommended to use them on the face or other sensitive areas.
NB The faster applications are started, the lower the risk of spreading the virus.
Cryotherapy. Cryotherapy is a process that uses cold to “burn” the war. The doctor drops liquid nitrogen directly at -196 ° C on the war, which causes the wart to detach. Nitrogen is applied until the skin is frozen for about 5 seconds. The product destroys both the wart and the virus, but a blister then appears, and the procedure is painful. Usually, several sessions (2 or 3 weeks apart) are required to remove the wart permanently. It is possible to make this treatment less painful by applying a local anesthetic 1 hour before the procedure. It should also be noted that this treatment may depigment the skin or, on the contrary, make it darker. A product (Freeze-Away in Canada, Cryopharma in France) based on cold, intense month that liquid nitrogen is also available over the counter in pharmacies.
Many other treatments exist and can be offered for plantar warts and more resistant warts
- The cantharidin in Canada (Canthacur, Cantharone). Sold without a prescription, this product must be applied by a doctor or podiatrist. A bulb forms under the wart and disappears in 1 to 2 weeks. The application is not painful and this product can be effective on plantar warts ;
- After performing local anesthesia, the doctor can incise and extract the wart or destroy it by electrocoagulation. Both of these minor procedures should be done carefully to avoid scarring;
- Again in rebellious cases or in people whose immunity is fragile, it is possible to inject interferons into the wart (in Canada). Interferons are substances that fight against viral infections;
- In the most severe cases, bleomycin, a substance that prevents cells from multiplying, is sometimes injected. This method is suitable for all types of warts, but it remains unpopular because of the intense pain it causes;
- Other products are sometimes used: imiquimod, trichloroacetic acid, cimetidine, and 5-fluorouracil or 5-FU (often used for genital warts);
- Another method is to destroy the laser wart. This technique does not cause any bleeding, but the healing is sometimes long and it often leaves a scar. It is, therefore, a solution of last resort.
In 2006, a meta-analysis compiled the results of 60 clinical trials on the treatment of warts (excluding genital warts). According to its authors, salicylic acid solutions are the treatment with the most evidence of efficacy. Their use leads to healing in 73% of cases. As for cold treatment with liquid nitrogen, its effectiveness would not be greater than that of salicylic acid, contrary to what we have long believed. However, a randomized trial published in 2010 compared the efficacy of these two treatments in 250 patients. For common warts, cryotherapy seemed more effective. On the other hand, cryotherapy, the application of salicylic acid or the abstention of treatment gave equivalent results on plantar warts.
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Windows 10 Missed Features 2017
Missed Features Installer10 - MFI10
Missed Features Installer10 v1.0 | 1.33 Gb
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Missed Features Installer10 (MFI10) – Tweak your Windows 10 system by installing various features from previous Windows operating systems, such as Aero Glass theme, gadgets or language packs. Owning a Windows-based computer might sometimes require you to perform certain maintenance operations, such as installing various required components or enabling certain features. However, instead of relying on its native functions, you can turn to third-party software that can often help you achieve quicker and better results. One of these applications is Missed Features Installer10.
Please note that you should disable User Account Control (UAC) so that this program can run as intended.
This utility comes with a sleek, user-friendly interface that provides you with an easy way of accessing its wide variety of features with minimum efforts.
Its main window consists of three different screens, each of which encompasses several components that can be installed on your machine with ease.
Missed Features Installer10 enables you to install various components on your Windows 10-based computer in a quick, convenient manner. You just need to click the desired button and follow the corresponding instructions.
For instance, it is possible to enable the Aero Glass theme, install gadgets and add XP, Vista or Windows 7-specific games to your current operating system. More so, you can install various language packs, disable some components you might find troublesome or access remote server administration tools.
No additional configuration required:
Since this is a system tweaking tool, you might expect it requires extensive amounts of configuration. However, thanks to its overall simplicity and flexibility, this application comes with no additional customization menu and does not require you to perform any configuration in order to benefit from its capabilities.
However, no form of help documentation is provided. Therefore, if you encounter any difficulty while operating this tool, turning to a standard user guide is not an available option.
All in all, Missed Features Installer10 is a reliable application that can help you customize your Windows 10 operating system by enabling you to install additional components. It comes with an intuitive user interface and straightforward functions, thus proving itself to be highly accessible and efficient altogether.
OS: Windows 10 / 10 64-bit
END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT ("EULA")
IMPORTANT-READ CAREFULLY: This End-User License Agreement ("EULA") is a legal agreement between you (either an individual or a single entity) and Wiwi-maX.
By installing, copying, or otherwise using the SOFTWARE, you agree to be bound by the terms of this EULA. If you do not agree to the terms of this EULA, do not install or use the SOFTWARE.
This SOFTWARE is provided free of charge,
but Dragon PC (author) retains copyright. Dragon PC has copyright only on this SOFTWARE - Missed Features Installer10 - MFI10; i.e. this installation shell, but not on the other 3rd party software that is included.
2. Distribution of SOFTWARE
You may make copies of the SOFTWARE as you wish; give exact copies of the original SOFTWARE to anyone; and distribute the SOFTWARE in its unmodified form via electronic means. You may not charge any fees for the copy or use of the SOFTWARE itself. You must not represent it in any way that you are selling the SOFTWARE itself. Your distribution of the SOFTWARE will not entitle you to any compensation from Wiwi-maX. You must distribute a copy of this EULA with any copy of the SOFTWARE and anyone to whom you distribute the SOFTWARE is subject to this EULA.
3.1 You may not reverse engineer, de-compile, simple text edit, or disassemble the SOFTWARE.
3.1.1 You may not change and/or altering installation / integration scripts and publish them as yours.
3.1.2 You may not decompile MFI10.exe or other MFI10's shell related files, change their strings and re-brand them as yours.
3.1.3 You may not use any graphic element which is part of Missed Features Installer10 - MFI10, such as its background, buttons, WM / Wiwi-maX logo and complete style / design.
3.2) You may not rent, lease, or lend the SOFTWARE.
3.3) You may permanently transfer all of your rights under this EULA, provided the recipient agrees to the terms of this EULA.
3.4) You may not use the SOFTWARE to perform any unauthorized transfer of information or for any illegal purpose.
3.5) It is prohibited to copy the contents of this DVD or parts of its contents which are not shareware, freeware, or public domain.
This DISK is not made by Microsoft.
Windows, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Thin PC, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
The Missed Features Installer10 is not build by Microsoft and Microsoft has no affiliation with MFI10 at all.
Complete design is creative work of Wiwi-maX, even most of the graphics are inspired from environments as aero and metro.
All software applications which can be installed through MFI10 are property of their respective owners.
All logos and trademarks presented and mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
Some of the software have unofficial changes/improvements by Internet community, but warez is not included at all.
Disclaimer of warranty
There is no warranty for the program, to the extent permitted by applicable law. Except when otherwise stated in writing the copyright holders and/or other parties provide the program “as is” without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the program is with you. Should the program prove defective, you assume the cost of all necessary servicing, repair or correction.
This SOFTWARE does not contain any warez.
However, it contains cross-platform and/or cross-version patched programs*. Using of this software is legal until you have legal serials of both operating systems, for an example for host: XP and its successor: Vista (Ultimate), to play Hold 'Em game from Vista: Extras.
*Responsibility for using 'cross-platform and/or cross-version software' falls only on its end-users. This statement excluding Wiwi-maX - the author of all products of the Missed Features Installer - MFI series.
Copyright © Dragon PC, 2016-2018
Do not mirror the download links, you are free to copy and post them on your site.
Download count is very important for the author - it is directly related with product's popularity which is related with the question:
Should this product be supported in the future or its supporting is just losing time?!
Version 1.0 [current-initial release]
- Classic Shell added as a start menu
- .NET Frameworks: 1.1; NETFX3 feature
- Aero Glass 1.4.5 - (Credits: Big Muscule)
- DirectX 9.0c
- Gadgets 2.0 - (Credits: PainteR)
- Games (XP/Vista/7) - (Credits: woot332's
- Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable
packages 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013,
2015; Visual #F 2.0, #J 2.0 (Credits:
- Media Center (Link to forum's thread only!)
- Destroy Win Spying (DWS Lite) - for telemetry
block (Credits: Nummer; WZoR)
- Install My Language
- Remote Server Administration Tools - RSAT
- This PC Tweaker
- Windows Experience Index Tool
- (Enable/Add-in) Briefcase
- XML Notepad 2.6 (Credits: Chris Lovett)
- Windows CardSpace 2 (Beta)
- Windows Mail (from Windows 7)
- Windows Calendar (from Vista)
- Windows Movie Maker 6.0 (from Vista SP2)
- WinAero Software - (Credits:
- Personalization Panel 10
- Winaero WEI Tool
- This PC Tweaker
- Ribbon Disabler 2
- Personalization Panel for Windows 10
- 3rd Party Themes Section (Only for v10240)
- Themes - (Credits: sagorpirbd)
- Ultra UX Theme Patcher 3.0.4 - (Credits:
Manuel Hoefs - (Zottel))
- Ribbon Disabler 2
- Theme: Colored Borders
- Universal Watermark Disabler (Credits: Tihiy,
- [Add-in] GodMode for Control Panel
- [Add-in] Windows Update for Control Panel
- [Add-in] Take Ownership to File/Folder
- Taskbar: Hide Cortana's search bar
- Taskbar: Windows 7 Jump List History
- Taskbar: Old Windows 7 applets in system
- [Switch OFF] - AutoPick an Accent Color
from my background
- [Switch ON] - Show Color on Start, Taskbar
- File Explorer: Remove OneDrive Link
- File Explorer: Remove Dropbox Link
- File Explorer: Restore Libraries
- File Explorer: Auto-Configure
- Set Photo Viewer as default viewer
- Small icons in Control Panel
- Taskbar Toolbar for Windows Media
Player 12 (By method from: Justin Buser
- Send User ID via Windows Media Player
- Online search via Bing through Cortana
- Microsoft XML Core Services - MSXML:
4.0: SP2, SP3-KB2758694; 6.0: RTM, SP1,
- Restore Standard (no-modern) Calculator
- OneDrive Uninstaller
- [Online Tool] Latest Adobe Flash Player
- [Direct link] Download Latest K-Lite Mega
Windows Advanced Section:
- Win Updates Disabler
- Set: Updates to Download only from Microsoft
- Last Known Good Configuration Enabler
- Fast startup (hybrid boot/shutdown) Disabler
- Normal/Standard hibernation Disabler
- Administrator Shares Disabler
- Windows 10 Deployment Tools (build 10586)
- Convert your Admin account to 'Super-Admin'
(Modern (metro) Apps wouldn't work!)
(Credits: fredpsycho83 and 3mbr4c3)
- All Modern (metro) Apps Official Remover
(Excludes: Edge and Cortana)
- Advanced Componenets Remover
(Removes: Edge, Cortana, Telemetry)
You must install Start Menu replacement!
(only for v10240!)
- Set Internet Explorer 11 as default browser
Some of the scripts are based on registry changes, so, credits for their founders are the following:
Shawn Brink for:
- Defender Disabling
- Hibernation disabling
- Notify before Download/Install updates
- Fast startup disabling
- Windows 7 Taskbar Jump List History
- Downloading Updates only via Microsoft
Vishal Gupta for:
- GodMode for Control Panel
fredpsycho83 and 3mbr4c3 for:
- Super Administrator
All other scripts are fully written by the MFI's author,or by some other author who didn't put his name on them.
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10. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, 2013)
So enigmatic, unorthodox, and languidly paced that it was always destined to be one of the most polarizing movies in recent memory, ‘Under the Skin’ is a tumble into the abyss that deliberately refuses to parlay into a set definition of horror and grows a little clearer every time you watch it.
Upon its release, few knew what exactly to make of Jonathan Glazer’s hypnotic slasher. Scarlett Johansson’s beguiling performance as an alien seductress disguised in human form who viciously preys on Scottish hitchhikers is one of the few startling images that linger after you emerge from its trance. The film is definitely not for everyone, but if you tune in to its wavelength, you’ll find a fascinating text: an examination of self-identity, human nature and sexuality that gradually seeps into your bones and is built to withstand countless watches.
Recommended Viewing: Stalker (1979), Upstream Color (2013), Annihilation (2016).
9. Revenge (Coralie Fargeat, 2017)
Debuting director Coralie Fargeat cut a deep gash in the French Extreme Wave with this blood-soaked and visually slick thriller. Reinventing the rape revenge genre with radical confidence by abandoning many of its well-trodden conceits, the film challenges the limits of the human body and spirit by putting us in the shoes of a young wannabe actress who’s brutally assaulted and left for dead in the desert.
Conjuring up the stylized bloodshed of Park Chan-wook, with ample doses of Abel Ferrara and Gaspar Noé for good measure, ‘Revenge’ interrogates its own violence as well as the codes of masculinity burrowed deep into the exploitation flick’s DNA. That the film’s gory resolution is cathartic or traumatizing is ultimately left up for each viewer to decide.
Recommended Viewing: Ms. 45 (1981), Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005), Martyrs (2008).
8. Kotoko (Shinya Tsukamoto, 2011)
Those familiar with Japanese cult director Shinya Tsukamoto will be aware that he’s never been content to play it safe. All things considered, he’s crossed genre boundaries and pushed the envelope in horror further than anyone in the past thirty years not named David Cronenberg. Despite slipping through the cracks among Western audiences, ’Kotoko’ might be his finest effort to date.
The film thrusts us into the fractured headspace of a single mother who struggles to take care of her baby while suffering from double visions and haunting hallucinations. Through grinding soundscape, frenetic camerawork, and invasive close-ups, Tsukamoto delivers a truly haunting assault to the senses rooted in everyday maternal fears that forces the viewer to see the world from Kotoko’s warped point of view. Viewer discretion is advised as the film conceals plenty of stomach-churning moments that can lodge into one’s memory banks.
Recommended Viewing: Possession (1981), Dead Ringers (1988), Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989).
7. The Wailing (Na Hong-jin, 2016)
Few sights in modern cinema are as genuinely bone-chilling as the closing scene in ‘The Wailing’. Going too much into detail is a sure way to spoil the big reveal, but if anything can be said about this 150-minute Korean folk horror, it’s that it truly earns its scares.
Less than twelve months after Robert Eggers knocked everyone’s socks off with ‘The Witch’ — a folk tale that illustrated, among many other things, how fear, superstition, and hysteria spread like wildfire in close-knit communities once tragedy strikes — Na Hong-jin delivered a similar treatise with ‘The Wailing’. A mysterious outbreak and string of murders plant the seeds of mistrust in a secluded rural village, while a naive policeman desperately tries to unearth the truth behind their plight. Don’t let the initial mood swings and seemingly upbeat first act fool you; those are smoke-screens to lull viewers into a false sense of security before ensnaring them with an ungodly final blow.
Recommended Viewing: The Wicker Man (1973), Cure (1998), Memories of Murder (2003).
6. Hereditary (Ari Aster, 2018)
As first efforts go, this one will make you rethink that screenplay you’ve been noodling with. Equal parts family psychodrama and demonic nail-biter, Ari Aster’s debut tears at the very fabric of family strife by thrusting us in the middle of a grieving household on the verge of collapsing on itself. Toni Colette uncorks a signature performance for the ages as Annie, the film’s matriarch and miniature artist caught in a vortex of mounting tragedies while an evil force threatens to implode his family from within.
Borrowing a page from Ingmar Bergman’s chamber dramas and Polanski’s psycho-thrillers, ‘Hereditary’ is perhaps the definitive emblem of modern ‘elevated horror’ — and whether you’re a fan of slippery semantics or not, it has invariably become the measuring stick by which all subsequent psychological horror is judged these days. Few directors dare to go places as deep as Aster, and even fewer pull it off in such unapologetic fashion in their debut film.
Recommended Viewing: Rosemary’s Baby (1968), Hour of the Wolf (1968), Midsommar (2019).
5. American Psycho (Mary Harron, 2000)
‘American Psycho’ did for Wall Street yuppies what ‘Jaws’ and ‘Videodrome’ did for sharks and TV respectively. Whether it’s gazing at personalized business cards, getting reservations at Dorsia, or butchering Jared Leto to death with an ax, Christian Bale’s Patrick Bateman is one of cinema’s most enduring villains — one that, for better or worse, has seeped his way into pop culture like no other since.
As the satirical personification of capitalist greed and unhinged narcissism, the New York banking executive-by-day, deranged serial killer-by-night is both hilarious and utterly terrifying to watch. If there’s one thing to be gleaned from Mary Harron’s no-holds-barred, ruthless takedown of Wall Street, is the uncomforting fact that her thesis statement still holds water today. This further cements ‘American Psycho’ as one of America’s lasting pieces of pitch-black satire, if also making its rampant bloodshed all the more unsettling to watch.
Recommended Viewing: A Clockwork Orange (1971), Man Bites Dog (1992), The House that Jack Built (2018).
4. Get Out (Jordan Peele, 2017)
Few modern films have left such a lasting mark on the zeitgeist as ‘Get Out’. The story of a young African-American photographer (Daniel Kaluuya) who travels upstate to visit her white girlfriend’s liberal parents, Jordan Peele’s walloping directorial debut touched a raw nerve upon its release on the heels of the 2016 election by delivering a sobering portrait of race dynamics and privilege in post-Obama America.
Much of the discourse around ‘Get Out’ homes in on how radical, refreshing, and brutally pertinent its message is — a fact not least amplified by the scary real-life implications of its central conceit. It helps that Peele managed to expose these monstrous possibilities with such pinpoint accuracy, but the true brilliance lies in how the political subtext is seamlessly incorporated into a delightfully refreshing, cleverly constructed, and disarmingly-funny thriller — one that cuts deeper with each passing day.
Recommended Viewing: The Stepford Wives (1975), Candyman (1992), Tales from the Hood (1995).
3. Climax (Gaspar Noé, 2018)
Gaspar Noé is the rare auteur that mingles grand intentions and sadistic inadequacy in almost equal measure; crafting avant-garde films that are borderline unwatchable but so irresistibly provocative you have a hard time prying your eyes away from them. However, in this drug-induced fever dream, the Argentinian enfant terrible found the perfect marriage between his maximalist formalism and morbid obsessions.
Mired by controversy upon release, the film follows a French dance troupe that unwittingly succumbs to the effects of LSD-spiked sangria during the after-party to one of their rehearsals. Noé pulls every trick up his sleeve with acrobatic camerawork, single-take sequences, and trippy visuals, ratcheting up the tension with an unerring sense of dismay as we helplessly witness the initial euphoria bleed into massed hysteria.
Recommended Viewing: Enter the Void (2009), mother! (2017), Mandy (2018).
2. The Witch (Robert Eggers, 2015)
Robert Eggers announced himself in striking fashion with this searing indictment of religious fervor set in 17th century New England, where a godforsaken Puritan family sees their faith tested after being exiled to the fringe of the Massachusetts wilderness. What follows is an effective brew of gnawing paranoia, foreboding mood, and an intersection of misfortunes pinned down on young Thomasin (Anna Taylor-Joy) — all leading up to an insidious climax that had genre fans shrieking in delight.
‘The Witch’ launched its director and lead actress onto the world stage and essentially ushered in the era of what is now called ‘elevated horror’. If you fancy historical verisimilitude, folklore esoterica, and slow-burning narratives in your horror flicks, you have this instant classic to thank for that paradigm shift.
Recommended Viewing: Vampyr (1932), Onibaba (1964), The Devils (1971).
1. Inland Empire (David Lynch, 2006)
David Lynch’s baroque opus might not exactly fit into any of today’s typical horror subgenres. The only ghouls and monsters in it are metaphorical; a direct outgrowth of the protagonist’s suppressed mental trauma. But by journeying into the dark recesses of the human mind; unearthing all the fears, guilts and thwarted dreams that we fear to acknowledge about ourselves and keep burrowed deep in our subconscious, David Lynch taps into the stuff that really keeps us up at night.
Unlocking the hidden truths of Inland Empire’s unending abstractions has become a subject of obsession for viewers in the past 16 years, though the film is more cohesive than it might appear at first blush. At its most fundamental level, the Möbius strip structure serves as a vehicle to dive deep into the troubled headspace of a victimized young woman who can’t cope with reality. The jigsaw of narratives, converging identities, and self-deceptive memories is held together with a committed lead performance by Laura Dern that should’ve been showered with accolades.
Albeit an unconventional one, ‘Inland Empire’ is the defining horror film of the 21st century — one that confronts our deepest fears and stares into the abyss without being afraid of what it’ll find staring right back.
Recommended Viewing: Perfect Blue (1997), Starry Eyes (2014), I’m Thinking of Ending Things (2020).
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by William Shakespeare
Photos: Joe Brown
Thu 27 July - Sat 5 August 2017 at 7.30pm (no performance Sun 30 July)
Performed in the open air in the courtyard of Abington Park Museum, Park Avenue South, Northampton NN1 5LW
CAST & CREW
Mark Antony Matthew Fell
Cleopatra Bernie Wood
Octavius Caesar Edward Toone
Enobarbus Nicola Osborne
Dercetus Jen Kenny
Eros Elizabeth Palmer
Euphronius Roger Toone
Charmian Rachel Bedford
Iras April Pardoe
Alexas Michael Street
Mardian Kevin Pinks
Diomedes Brian Harrap
Agrippa Maggie Holland
Octavia Beverley Webster
Proculeius Alistair Way
Thidias Julia Langley
Lepidus Victor Guse
Pompey Rob Kendall
Menas Siôn Grace
Soothsayer Sue Whyte
Director John Myhill
Stage Manager Denise Swann
Backstage Assistance Peter Collins
Sound & Lighting Phil Welsh
Designer Tamsyn Payne
Wardrobe Clare Brittain
Tunics & togas Pam Mann
Armourer Peter Darnell
Set Construction Mark Mortimer
Egyptian Paintings Simon Baird
Box Officer Manager Sue Howes
Front of House Masque Theatre members
Programme Graham Follett
Photography Joe Brown
Masque Theatre have been performing a huge variety of plays since formation in 1932, including many by William Shakespeare, but rarely have the actors been required to don togas and sandals for one of the Bard of Avon's ‘Roman’ plays, generally listed as Coriolanus, Titus Andronicus, Julius Caesar, Cymbeline and Antony and Cleopatra.
Of these, as far as I know, only the latter has been previously performed: in 1996.
Antony and Cleopatra is one of the later Shakespeare plays, the action sweeps to and from Rome and Egypt, and it is Roman Politics that forms the background to this fascinating, many-layered play dominated by one of Shakespeare's greatest female characters, the legendary Cleopatra, ‘my serpent of old Nile’ as her lover, Mark Antony calls her.
She is indeed a woman of ‘infinite variety’: a charismatic diva, sensuous, passionate, manipulative, vain, histrionic, skittish, exasperating, yet always enchanting. A terrific role to challenge any actress, then, and one to which Bernadette Wood rises magnificently, displaying the gamut of all this great Queen's emotions and not leaving us in any doubt why Antony gives up everything for her.
This is a stellar performance, and Bernie is well matched by Matthew Fell as Antony, ideally cast as her lover. Blest with a fine voice and clear diction, Matthew has great stage presence together with his experience of leading roles, and this is all brought brilliantly to the fore here as the doomed Roman hero.
Similarly effective is Ed Toone as Octavius, totally convincing in the part of this pragmatic, cold fish of a man, the very opposite of pleasure loving Antony, who only shows us any genuine affection for another in the person of his sister Octavia. He is clearly from the outset bent on Antony's downfall, but at the last, faced with the death of his old adversary and that of the Egyptian Queen, his character, as portrayed by Ed, seems to grow and he becomes sorrowful and magnanimous in victory.
Creating all this for the stage is John Myhill, an exciting, imaginative Director, who proves here once again he is not afraid to take risks and try fresh approaches. Examples would include the impressive opening scene, the clever use of music and lighting particularly in the most dramatic and poignant moments, and his decision to cast females in roles traditionally taken by men. I have to admit wondering how this was going to work but thanks to the quality of the actresses and the magic of live theatre I felt as the director hoped we all would, and very quickly accepted this and became absorbed in the progress of the play.
Praise then, to Nicola Osborne as Enobarbus, who has the famous speech describing the first meeting of the tragic lovers; Jen Kenny, so full of energy as the warlike Dercetus; Elizabeth Palmer making her debut for Masque as the loyal Eros; Maggie Holland as Caesar's General Agrippa, and Julia Langley as Thidias. Rachel Bedford and April Pardoe offer strong support as Charmian and Iras, Cleopatra's faithful handmaidens, who die along with their Queen in a memorably dramatic final scene. Beverley Webster brings subtle dignity to the role of the wronged and blameless Octavia, and another eye catching performance comes from Sue Whyte in two cameo roles.
A fine ‘phalanx’ of stalwart ‘Masquetteers’ all make a solid contribution in supporting parts: Roger Toone, Brian Harrap, Alistair Way, Victor Guse, Rob Kendall, and Sion Grace. With the rest of the audience I especially enjoyed the performance of Kevin Pinks, as poor put upon Mardian the humorous eunuch, whilst Michael Street is an hilarious joy as Alexas, the justifiably apprehensive attendant and messenger who has the unenviable task of bringing the fiery Cleopatra some unwelcome news.
Every theatrical production is collaborative, so mention is due to those behind the scenes without whom the show literally could not go on. Phillip Welsh, an accomplished director in his own right, and the ‘Mr Technicals’ of local theatre, was on sound and lighting. Set construction, the work of the ever resourceful Mark Mortimer, and design by talented Tamsyn Payne.
Stage Management was carried out with the efficiency only to be expected from Denise Swann, assisted by Peter Collins. In the 1996 Masque's Antony and Cleopatra it was Denise who graced the stage as the Egyptian Queen, a production directed by Masque's current Chairman Rob Kendall, (Pompey in this Summer Show).
Many others will have contributed to the production, including refreshments and box office teams. The striking costumes were the work of Clare Brittain and Pam Mann, and also impressive was the magnificent armour sported by Octavius Caesar and Mark Antony and designed by Peter Darnell. So very well done all concerned, the Summer Show, always at the mercy of the weather, has long become a Northampton institution and may it continue to be so.
Desire. Duty. Divided loyalties.
Cleopatra, the clever queen of Egypt.
Octavius Caesar, the empire builder who made Rome the mightiest power in the world.
Mark Antony, the great general torn between them.
Is Antony neglecting his duties as one third of the triumvirate that rules the Roman Empire, luxuriating with Cleopatra in sensual abandonment? Or is he ready to drop her if duty calls? Is he a lover or a fighter?
Is Cleopatra putting Egypt first by staying loyal to Antony, the great general of past campaigns, or would her country be better protected by alliance with Octavius Caesar, the coming man?
Can Octavius trust his old mentor to do the right thing by Rome, or must he divide and conquer? Or can the wily and beautiful queen seduce him like she did his adopted father?
Antony and Cleopatra revolves around this political love triangle, with their supporters torn between following their hearts or their heads, being loyal to their leaders or looking after their own interests.
It’s one of Shakespeare’s greatest love stories, with humour, drama, tension and tragedy in ample measure, performed in the beautiful open air courtyard of Abington Park Museum.
Unusually for a Shakespeare production, I have cast equal numbers of women and men, following my decision to open male roles to the many talented women in the group, who have risen to the challenge. If Shakespeare’s original audiences could accept men in women’s roles, even playing Cleopatra, then I am sure modern audiences can accept cross-dressing the other way, especially after recent professional “gender-blind” productions with Maxine Peake as Hamlet, Glenda Jackson as King Lear and Michelle Terry as Henry V. There’s an interesting article about it here.
In the title roles are Matt Fell as Antony and Bernie Wood as Cleopatra.
Matt was seen most recently in Dinner and is a regular director, having swapped positions with me having directed me in both 2014’s Much Ado About Nothing and 2015’s Macbeth.
Bernie has just finished a tour with White Cobra Production’s Dizzy Boo and also played the ghost of Shakespeare’s Granddaughter in Masque’s 2016 production of Shaxpeare’s Box, both shows written by local author Brian Wright.
The role of Octavius Caesar is taken by Edward Toone, who was also in Much Ado and Macbeth with John, as Claudio and Ross respectively, while Lady Macbeth from the latter, Nicola Toone, swaps her elegant gown for a soldier’s tunic in the role of Enobarbus, Antony’s right-hand man.
In fact, all of Antony’s men are played by women, with Jen Kenny (one of Macbeth’s witches in 2015) taking the role of Dercetus and newcomer Izzy Palmer playing Eros. Antony’s old tutor Euphronius is played by Ed’s father Roger Toone, last seen in Henry V in 2016.
Caesar also has his share of women soldiers, with his second-in-command Agrippa played by Maggie Holland, another director in her own right (and the memorable title character in The Playhouse’s 2016 production of The Killing of Sister George, and his envoy Thidias played by Julia Langley, seen earlier this year in both Masque’s Playhouse Creatures and The Playhouse’s moving Steel Magnolias.
Caesar’s men are completed by Alistair Way as Proculeius, previously the Sexton in Much Ado and more recently a disco-dancing Wolf in Duston Players’ Little Red Riding Hood!
There is also a woman in Caesar’s life – his sister Octavia - played by Beverley Webster, director of Playhouse Creatures and Alice in Henry V.
Cleopatra’s court includes handmaidens Charmian and Iras, parts taken respectively by Rachel Bedford (the Beatrice to John’s Benedick in Much Ado and The Witch in Into the Woods from 2014 amongst many other roles) and April Pardoe (Mistress Quickly in last year’s Henry V, a moving Mrs Gibbs in 2015’s Our Town and also in Playhouse Creatures).
Her eunuch Mardian is Kevin Pinks (the scene-stealing Mason from this year’s Journey’s End), her major-domo Diomedes is Brian Harrap (a veteran of many productions, including Henry V last year), and Alexas, her go-between with Antony, is Mike Street, barely out of roman garb as Senex in this years A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum for The Open Theatre Group in Milton Keynes, and Harry “Jazzbo” Heywood in last year’s It’s A Wonderful Life.
Elsewhere in the ancient world, Masque stalwart Rob Kendall (director of Henry V, not to mention 2011’s Romeo & Juliet where I got my first Shakespearian role as the Friar) plays enemy of Rome Sextus Pompey, with newcomer to the group Sion Grace as his piratical sidekick Menas.
Victor Guse, the French King in last year’s show and Editor Webb in Our Town, plays Lepidus, oft-forgotten third member of the ruling Triumvirate, and last but by no means least Sue Whyte, the earthly Doll Common in Playhouse Creatures plays a feminised and more spiritually minded Soothsayer.
I have assembled a dream cast for my first venture into directing the Bard, although studying English at Oxford under the late great Professor Reggie Alton has given me a familiarity with Shakespeare’s texts; and I have previously directed Our Town in 2015, this year’s Dizzy Boo for White Cobra Productions, and many pantomimes and comedies for Duston Players.
Staged in full period costume with a touch of Hollywood glamour, this is one of Shakespeare’s most sumptuous treats. Expect togas and crowns, short swords and sandals, laughter and tears.
John Myhill directed Our Town (2015) for Masque Theatre.
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Hopefully, God is not through with me yetCommentary, Conversations with the Mayor of Hillcrest, Online Only, Top Highlights Tuesday, July 23rd, 2013
COMMENTARY: Conversations with Nicole
BY NICOLE MURRAY RAMIREZ
First, I most sincerely urge all of you to get tested for cancer, diabetes etc. All my life I’ve been one who has avoided doctors checkups and tests and so it should be no surprise that this is the third time that I have come within minutes of meeting the grim reaper.
As many of you know, for four years now I’ve been dealing with high blood pressure, heart problems and breathing problems. I don’t know what idiot came up with the notion that our senior years are our golden years because they are not. They are more like our bronze or copper years! But many of us make them worse by not taking care of ourselves and not getting regular checkups and tests.
Contrary to rumors I am not rich. I live in a senior complex and at times paying my rent can be a struggle. But I’ve been blessed with a lot of wealthy and caring friends all of my life. I go to the American Indian Health Center and the doctors and staff there are wonderful and very reasonable. Indeed God has blessed to be to have so many loyal and good friends who accept me, warts and all, and put up with me. I’ve never learned how to drive or swim or anything. I don’t know how to work a computer nor do I own one. Yes, sometimes I think I’m a hot mess. But now for more than 45 years I’ve been a witness to the growth and visibility of my beloved Latino and GLBT communities.
In fact, I’ve been able to play a small role as an activist these last decades. I’ve lost count of the friends I’ve lost to AIDS, suicides and cancer. In the early 1980s going to funerals and memorials became a way of life for many of us. Now it seems I can only count on one hand how many fellow activists from the early 1970s are still alive.
This recent Pride weekend I just knew something was wrong with me. My breathing was worse. I was sweating like a whore in church and really tired. But as usual I ignored all the signs that my body was breaking down. I am a very spiritual guy and have been all my life. I pray a lot every day. I said to God just let me be OK until after Pride. Then I’ll go see a doctor. Oh yeah, sure.
Well, Monday came and my color was gray. I told Carolina Ramos, who was very concerned, that I was going to take a nap and then I would go to the hospital. Carolina was not having any of that and forced me to get into her car and immediately took me to the hospital. That action saved my life – period!
In the emergency room, I was told I was having kidney failure, diabetes mellitus, dehydration and soaring blood pressure. Well folks, I never knew I had diabetes and my blood sugar count was more than 1,100! Yes, by all medical accounts I should have been in a coma or death. But once again, God was watching over this tired old queen!
Well, my nearly one-week stay at UC San Diego Hospital’s cardiovascular unit in La Jolla was, needless to say, life changing. Unbelievably caring nurses and doctors; visits by priests and nuns; prayers and Holy Communion; learning about totally new eating habits and no more Mountain Dew’s, pies etc. and physical therapists walking me around the hospital. Your flowers, calls, emails, cards, stuffed teddy bears and balloons truly touched my heart and lifted my spirits. Truly, God has also blessed me with a loving and caring community. I even got well-wishes from people who are not my biggest fans! My life has now become injections of insulin with bloody pricks in my fingers three times a day and bottles of medication.
But this is nothing compared to those in the children’s wing of the hospital and friends dealing with AIDS and cancer. One friend of mine has AIDS, cancer, diabetes and is on dialysis. Yes, I’m lucky to be alive and hopefully God is not through with me yet. But once again my main message is don’t be a fool like me. Get medical checkups regularly and get tested for everything. Thank you.
My friend Bob Filner
Having served and advised the last six mayors of San Diego I have a unique and different perspective – more than most people. Mayor Hedgecock opened the doors wide for people of color and GLBT citizens for the first time at City Hall. I remember eating breakfast with him and others at his home (wonderful wife and good sons) and helped organize supportive rallies for him in his last days in office. When Roger was under heavy fire I gave him a walking tour of Hillcrest (a photograph of Mayor Hedgecock and me made the L.A.Times.) We stuck by Mayor Hedgecock until the very end – all the way to his resignation. Mayor Maureen O’Connor appointed more women, people of color and gays to boards and commissions than ever. Her chief of staff, Benjamin F. Dillingham, was openly gay and O’Connor became the first mayor to walk in our Pride Parade. Everyone loved “Mayor Mo” and I was proud to be elected co-chair of our city’s first gay advisory board (the late Barbara Crusberg was my co-chair).
Mayor O’Connor gave me the official key to the city for my social justice work and HIV-AIDS activism. Mayor O’ Connor and I became closer pals after she left office. She will go down in history as one of our best mayors. Mayor Susan Golding and I had a friendship, since she was a county supervisor. Her strong support for our first AIDS Walk (with founder Susan Jester) and the Names Project AIDS quilt’s first visit to San Diego (I was chair of the host committee) made these most important events possible. During her mayoral campaign, Golding’s opponents Peter Navarro’s attack on me and my subsequent press conference response made local and national media. But then that’s another story.
I served as the vice chair of Mayor Golding’s gay advisory board. I liked her a lot. Mayor Dick Murphy was a good decent man who should have listened to his instincts and not run for re-election. I was a solid Ron Roberts (great guy) cheerleader and supporter and when Murphy beat him, I was not a happy camper. In time, Mayor Murphy asked me to become a member of his advisory board and soon I became a Murphy loyalist. He became the first mayor to appoint a transgender citizen to a City Commission and spoke at every one of our Pride Rallies. I stuck by Mayor Murphy until the very end and before he resigned I presented him with a well-deserved award from the Human Relations Commission at Council chambers.
Mayor Jerry Sanders. Love, love, love this man. I met him while he was a cop (now that’s really another story). He really brought our city together. Best “First Family” ever. I have many wonderful memories and good times with him that I will always cherish. I would take a bullet for this man (OK, I would be wearing a bulletproof vest). Jerry Sanders, to me, is why we should allow third terms.
But, of all the mayors I’ve known, it is Bob Filner who I am the closest with and who I have had the longest friendship with – almost 40 years. He is a man not bothered with expensive suits, expensive clothes, expensive dinners or the trappings of elected office. He is more bothered with the injustices of communities discriminated against and without a voice.
Yes, social justice and civil rights have been in Bob’s DNA sensors since the 1960s, when he was a freedom rider. No one can deny that Bob Filner has devoted his entire life to public service and been a champion and a tireless fighter for African Americans, Latinos, Filipinos, veterans, people with HIV/AIDS, homeless families and individuals, students, children, women, GLBT youth, undocumented workers and working families. No one and I mean no elected official in San Diego County history can come close to Bob Filner’s record when it comes to leadership and devotion to social issues and civil rights.
Now about Bob’s personality, people skills and humor; well, some very big flaws indeed. Crude jokes, overly flirtatious, sometimes too touchy-feely, lots of profanity and bad manners. Yes, at times a complete hot mess. To be honest and ask any of my friends, at times, I too have displayed many of these traits. But then I am not a congressman over here. Now, I want to make it very clear I come from a traditional, conservative religious Mexican American family. And sadly, still have memories of my late father beating my mother. Her screaming and at times me trying to stop this abuse to no avail. I have no time or patience for any abuse of women – period!
During the mayoral general election and his seven months in office, I became very close to Bob and his then fiancée, Bronwyn Ingram. Bronwyn and I even went looking for wedding venues. I came up with the idea of “Team First Lady” and set it up and served as co-chair (along with prominent San Diegan Nancy Chase) of her Citizens Advisory Council.
How close was our friendship? Well, Bob and Bronwyn took me out for “Mother’s Day” brunch where Bob gave me a beautiful Catholic rosary (I collect them).
But, I cannot remain silent when it comes to so many now involved in this growing controversy. Bronwyn Ingram did so much for so many in our city, and she should be commended for her compassion and caring for those less fortunate. But I’m very saddened by her recent statement about Bob. They had an open relationship. She knew about his flirtatious ways and conduct for four years and accepted them. Before Bronwyn broke off her engagement with Bob she told me she knew about some forthcoming allegations from other women. I believe Bronwyn was used and manipulated by others and has not told the complete truth. As for the ongoing piling on by Democratic leaders, some of them are being total hypocrites. We, they knew everything about Bob’s ways and conduct, not for years but for decades. We should have spoken up more and shook the hell out of him but we didn’t and I accept my responsibility and so should they instead of holding ongoing press conferences and political posturing.
For countless years some of these very same Democratic leaders and I have had endless talks and discussions about Bob’s behavior and sadly at times laughed them off.
My big question is why isn’t there a media spotlight on that Republican Party official who secretly followed Bob around with his video camera trying to create a scandal? How about the relentless attacks and undermining by some of the conservative media and old guys network and establishment. They hate Bob Filner and were against him from day one.
In closing, I will not abandon my friend Bob Filner. Where would I be today – in my time of failing health – if my friends abandoned me during my 1970s drug addiction and bouts of depression?
Bob Filner deserves his day in court … but yes our city is going through one of its worst crises in San Diego’s history. I know Bob loves San Diego and I believe in the end he will come to the right decision.
Yes, Bob Filner indeed made his own bed in this controversy and has no one to blame. But it seems to me that other interests are trying to burn down the bedroom and house as quickly as possible. Let Bob decide his future and make his own decisions on his own time. I believe he will not let our great city down.
Nicole Murray Ramirez has been an award-winning columnist since 1973, and a Latino and gay activist for more than 40 years. He is currently a city commissioner and has served the last six mayors of San Diego. He is also a national board member of the Harvey Milk Foundation and chairman of the International Court Council of the USA, Canada and Mexico. [email protected]
Short URL: http://lgbtweekly.com/?p=39325
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Today we have a very special guest at Kids’ Book Capers. Ike, the star of the Grim and Grimmer series has promised us an EXCLUSIVE interview. He is here to talk about his latest adventure, The Calamitous Queen.
Please be kind to him. He’s never been interviewed before and he’s a bit shy so he’s also brought along his best friend, Mellie.
1. Ike, you have been on such a journey throughout the Grim and Grimmer series. Can you tell us how your adventures have changed you as a person?
‘Thanks for asking, Dee, though I’m not sure how to answer that. I’ve never been much good with words and stuff.’ (sighs). ‘Well, here goes. Um, before I came to Grimmery –’
‘And accidentally betrayed the princess,’ Dee says helpfully.
‘I was hoping you wouldn’t bring that up. Before then I was Useless Ike. I never did anything good; never believed I could. I always gave up.’
‘What made you change?’
‘It wasn’t just me in trouble this time. The princess was going to be killed, because of my stupidity, and I couldn’t bear it. I had to make something of myself. I had to save her, no matter the cost.’
‘How did you make something of yourself, Ike? How did you change?’
‘Er, um.’ Ike struggles to remember the details, blushes, stares at his big feet. ‘Sorry, I’m no good at analysing myself.’
Beside him, Mellie groans, rolls her eyes then elbows Ike out of the way. ‘Luckily I’m brilliant. I’ve been trying to work him out ever since we met.’
‘That doesn’t exactly sound like a compliment,’ says Dee.
‘Who’s telling this story?’ Mellie snaps. ‘Ike learned perseverance under Grogire’s tree, when he refused to give up and made that brilliant, though disgusting, dung balloon. And he overcame his fear of heights when he crawled blind across the beam over the abyss to rescue me from Gorm’s hut. He’s overcome all kinds of fears since he met me.’
‘I’ve had to, the way you keep getting me into trouble,’ mutters Ike.
‘Shush!’ says Mellie. ‘What would you know, anyway? When Nocty attacked the demon, Spleen, as she was carrying us away from Gorm, you showed great selflessness by becoming a night-gaunt to save us.’
‘Great stupidity, you mean.’
‘Yes, but selfless stupidity. Need I go on?’
‘I think Dee’s got the point,’ says Ike.
‘You also learned courage, ingenuity, endurance and so forth. And at the end, you sacrificed one of the most important things in your life, your quest to clear your parents’ names – just to save me.’
‘That was the most painful lesson,’ says Ike.
‘To say nothing of the many faults you’ve learned to overcome,’ Mellie goes on. ‘I can list them, if you like.’ She laughs aloud. ‘I once wrote down all your flaws. Took three sheets of paper.’
She looks up, and the smile fades. ‘Ike’s the bravest boy I’ve ever met, Dee. He never gives up. It’s all because of him that Grimmery has been saved. That’s how he’s changed.’
2. Can you tell us what you like most about your best friend Mellie and why you became such good friends?
‘Mellie is everything I’m not,’ says Ike, eyeing her warily. ‘She’s clever and quick, and … and really pretty too, in a pixyish kind of way. She’s warm and generous, but she’s also terribly reckless, and always carrying out outrageous thefts to prove she’s the best apprentice thief as ever was. But she’s got a dreadful temper, and when she’s cranky even Achernix, the terrible Duke of Darkness, runs for his immortal life.’
Ike ducks, as if expecting her to wallop him one, but Mellie is smiling. ‘I’m not the least bit reckless. I call it bold and daring, and since it got me through my Reckoning, no one can argue.’
Ike stirs, as if to say, But I got you through your Reckoning, then smiles and closes his mouth again. He doesn’t need to say anything.
3. What is the worst thing that happened to you on your journey?
‘I don’t know how to answer that,’ says Ike. ‘Was it the competition I had, as Useless Ike, with Grogire the firewyrm (the most brilliant mind in the world) in her stinky lair? Or the contest with that sly, smirking conman, Con Glomryt, to get through the doors of the dwarf kingdom of Delf? Or my dreadful embarrassment after Mellie’s failed spell blew my bottom up to the size of a small airship, and I spent a whole day bobbing around the ceilings of Delf being mocked by angry dwarves?’
He rubs his bony jaw. ‘No, I think it was the time I had to fight the dreadful night-gaunt in Emajicka’s palace, to stop him tormenting Pook and the other Collected children and stealing their nightmares for Emajicka to bathe in. That was the most awful time I can ever remember. Yet I’ll never forget how brave little Pook was, trying to hold off the monstrous night-gaunt all by himself.’ (Ike brushes away a tear at the memories).
4. What is the best thing that happened to you on your journey?
‘Harrumph!’ says Mellie.
Ike grins. ‘A lot of good things happened, too many to count. One of the best of them was when I worked all night to make that balloon fuelled with exploding firewyrm dung, to rescue the princess. Everyone laughed at me, but when I finally put the balloon together, it floated up into the air just the way it should. It was the first time I realised that I didn’t have to be Useless Ike.’
Ike gives her a sly, sidelong glance. ‘But no, the best thing that happened, the very best in my life, was meeting Mellie and plucking up the courage to ask her to help me, after she’d stolen my magical pen. Mellie’s the first real friend I’ve had, and definitely the best thing that has ever happened to me.
‘Though I wish she wasn’t so darn cranky.’
(Mellie boxes his ear, though she is wearing an enigmatic smile).
5. Where to next for Ike?
I’ll answer that, says Ian. (who has fortunately come along too – otherwise the interview could deteriorate into an Ike/Mellie war.)
Well, Ike’s a Gate Guardian now, though admittedly a very young one, and it’s his duty to guard the four gates into Grimmery and protect this brave little country from all the terrible enemies lurking outside. And none of them have given up.
The Fey Queen Emajicka still wants Grimmery back. Grogire the firewyrm still wants revenge for the dreadful humiliations Ike and Mellie made her suffer, and the Demon Spleen, who is now the Duchess of Darkness, still wants to make them pay for Mellie’s stealing the Bloody Baton and Ike’s burning a hole though the wall of the underworld.
Oh, and Nuckl never forgets. He still wants to eat Ike’s liver.
‘Thanks for asking, Dee,’ says Ike. ‘I’ve never done an interview before. I was really nervous. Hope I wasn’t too awful.’
Thanks for visiting us here at Kids’ Book Capers, Ike, Mellie and Ian. Hope you enjoy the rest of your blog tour (see details at the end of this post about where the blog tour has been already and where it’s going to from here.)
REVIEW OF THE CALAMITOUS QUEEN
The Calamitous Queen is the fourth installment in Ian Irvine’s hilarious Grim and Grimmer series for readers aged 10 +
In this final book everything comes to a head and if Ike doesn’t defeat the evil Emajicka, his good friend Mellie will perish and Grimmery will be destroyed. And even if Ike saves Mellie, has her family been burnt alive by the evil Fey Queen’s minions?
To make matters worse, Mothooliel is out to steal Ike’s eyeballs, Spleen and Nuckle want to eat Ike’s innards, and Grogire the Firewyrm plans a disgusting death for him. Then there’s the ongoing conflict between Lord Monty and his newly reattached head.
Emajicka and her army of a million Fey are marching on Grimmery, and if Aurora isn’t crowned very soon, the kingdom will be lost – possibly forever.
Ike must get the Book of Grimmery to Aurora in time to prevent this from happening, but how can he when he doesn’t even know where it is?
In The Calamitous Queen, Ian Irvine ties up all the loose ends for the reader. We see Ike come full circle and realise how much he has changed and grown over the course of his adventures from the clumsy boy who couldn’t do anything right to the Gate Guardian everyone is relying on to save the world.
Ike finds out who he really is in both the literal and spiritual sense and Mellie faces her Reckoning. There is so much at stake for all the characters in this book. Will Pook free the Collected children and how will Lord Monty overcome the ultimate act of betrayal?
14 year-old Ike has the fate of the world in his hands in this book.
As well as the non-stop action, the humour keeps coming right to the last line of the book, even finishing with a bodily function. The Calamitous Queen is a hilarious and exciting end to the four book Grim and Grimmer series.
You can find out more about the series by dropping in to the other great blogs that Ian is visiting on tour.
IAN IRVINE THE CALAMITOUS QUEEN, BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE
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Abby Kelso (Hula Hoops, Intermediate Trapeze, generAL AERIALS, KIDS & TEENS)
Abby Kelso is one of Vulcana’s fabulous trainers! She has performed all over Australia in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide, as well as in England and France. She has been teaching for a long time and can teach you all sorts of awesome circus things, but her favourites are hula hoops and trapeze. You might also see her around as a student in a few of the classes, when she’s not busy teaching or studying for her engineering degree. Come and say hi!
Allie Wilde (Intermediate Acro, Advanced tissu, rope, duo trapeze)
Since 1998 Allie Wilde has devoted much of her life to the proliferation of live performing arts. She is a specialist in the production, promotion and delivery of edgy, engaging, physical, interdisciplinary works.
Allie has worked for a large variety of Australian companies. In all her work she applies a theatrical focus and truly thrives on delivering strong live performance outcomes and programs. She has an extensive Australian and international performance history spanning over 18 years. This level of experience brings a richness and depth of understanding to her work and to her relationship with the artists she promotes, the clients she works with and every unique audience base she seeks to engage.
Allie loves to form strong, long lasting relationships with the vast range of clients and artists she works beside. She truly enjoys the collaborative process and believes passionately in the value and necessity of Art to society. The strong influence of Allie’s preferences have led to Wilde Applause currently having a strong focus on working on collaborative, cross-cultural hybrid performing arts projects throughout the Australasian region.
Anna Yen (Circus Essentials, juggling, clowning, kids & teens)
Anna Yen is a circus / physical theatre teacher, performer, theatre maker, director and and Feldenkrais Method ® practitioner. Her work spans contemporary circus, physical theatre, theatre, and film. Anna's training includes with: the Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe; Shanghai Circus School, European theatre teachers Monika Pagneux and Philippe Gaulier; and Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre. Anna teaches widely for schools, communities, universities, companies, festivals and solo artists.
Anna is well-known for creating a positive learning environment and her ability to help physical performers / learners increase their awareness of how they are moving and explore efficient options. As a performer, her specialty circus skills are slackrope, object manipulation and clowning. Anna clowns with the “Playful Engagement” Project, performed in “The Serpent’s Table” Sydney Festival 2014 and ‘It All Begins With Love” Oct/Nov 2015. She was an ensemble member of Rock’n’Roll Circus (now Circa) for 4 years. Anna has taught her PlayMoves – Movement Workshops for Performance for 10 years, including in Perth, Townsville, Cairns, Melbourne, Wollongong, Maleny and Brisbane. Anna’s acclaimed film / stage play “Chinese Take Away” has taken her to festivals around the world. Anna is the recipient of a Churchill Fellowship and a Matilda Award Special Commendation. www.playmoves.org
Bianca Mackail (Boot Camp, Tumbling, advanced lyra)
Bianca Mackail is an acrobatic artist who combines strength, agility and flow in the air and on the floor. Specializing in non-narrative conceptual circus, she strives to create work that’s from the heart and soul. Co-founder of 3 is a Crowd Circus Company in 2012, she has developed and toured work extensively in Australia, Asia and Europe with companies such as Tumble Circus (Ireland), Cirque du Loin (Switzerland), Wilde Applause Creative Productions, The Crack Up Sisters, CIRCA, Aerial Angel Productions and Clowns without Borders (Sweden and Australia).
A graduate of the Circoarts School in New Zealand in 2004, Bianca has also trained over the years with specialty trainers in the Ukraine and Barcelona’s La Central del Circ, Spain. Some highlights include: taking out the “Best Circus and Physical Theatre” award in Adelaide and Perth Fringe for 3 is a Crowd’s debut show Fright or Flight; selling out the season for the same show at Sydney Festival 2015; and having a "show must go on moment” whilst hula hooping in a Typhoon storm to a 10,000-standing audience in Taipei that would not go home without a show!
Over the last sixteen years, she has performed in festivals around world such as Recklinghausen Arts Festival (Germany), Spoffin (Netherlands), Helsinger Festival (Denmark), Adelaide Fringe Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Sydney Festival, Woodford Folk Festival, Hoopla Festival and too many to name throughout Sweden, Denmark and Ireland. In 2013 Bianca became involved with the worldwide organisation Clowns Without Borders, a non-profit organisation that offers performances and workshops to all people, especially children who live in conflict zones, refugee camps or other situations of adversity.
Chae Lindeman (Circus Essentials, General Aerials, beginner tissu, duo tissu, trapeze, lyra, fire, juggling, hula hoops, stilts)
Chae Lindeman has over 20 years experience in contemporary circus and physical theatre, both as a Performer and a Producer. She has created new works which have toured nationally and internationally and is regularly engaged to perform and produce entertainment for corporate and community events. The quality of her work has been recognised through her success in securing funding through Arts Queensland (Projects and Programs 2013, Fresh Ground Space Program 2011) and Brisbane City Council (Creative Sparks 2010). Chae was employed by Vulcana Women’s Circus for 10 years as Workshop Program Manager. She is currently the owner-operator of The Bubble Effect and co-director of More Than Mime Theatre.
Eliza Gawn (Boot Camp, General Aerials, tissu, lyra)
Eliza is a versatile and creative circus artist and trainer. She has put her hyperactivity to good use, having a go at pretty much everything circus has to offer, but primarily specialises in aerials. Her passions include musical theatre, social justice and guacamole (not always in that order). Eliza is an occupational therapist by day and has a special interest in the therapeutic applications of circus training. She believes that circus is magical and that jazz hands can save the world. Eliza is currently the lead trainer for the teens class and loves working with the emerging circus stars of tomorrow and supporting them to uncover their own joy, confidence and unique talents.
Ellen Grow (Intermediate & Advanced Tissu, acro, cloud, lyra, pole, tumbling, kids & teens)
Ellen trained in both gymnastics and sports acrobatics before falling in love with circus at 15. Upon graduating high school she moved to China to train for two years at Beijing International Arts School where she focused on handstands, partner acrobatics and aerials. She started training in classes at Vulcana in 2013 and teaching here in 2014. She is constantly amazed by circus for the way it enables people to be both challenged and empowered, and loves the way in which Vulcana provides a fun, supportive environment in which people can try things they never dreamed they'd be capable of.
Emily Jones (Acro Yoga, General Aerials, Bend & Stretch, tissu, trapeze, lyra, rope, pole, cloud tumbling)
Emily began circus training in 2007 in the Wednesday General Aerials class at Vulcana.
With a background in sports as distinctive and challenging as gymnastics and weightlifting; manoeuvring her own body weight suspended from great heights came naturally.
A past gymnastics coach of all levels from kinder-gym to competitive elite, and having completed several national level coaching courses, Emily quickly became keen to begin teaching aerials workshops. Over the years she has gained experience in all aerial apparatus and likes to include in her general class a taste of everything from the popular aerial silks, lyra and trapeze to the lesser known, but oh so fun - cloud, teardrop and chinese pole.
Also a qualified Acroyoga and Yoga teacher, Emily has a lot to offer in her repertoire and has a particular passion for strength and conditioning training and handstands! Being inverted is Emily's favourite mode of being and she is more than happy to share each and every trick in her book in order to help you get and stay upside down, comfortably and joyfully!
Emma Aitchison (Intermediate Lyra, General Aerials, duo trapeze, tissu)
With a strong background in classical ballet, Emma has a natural flare for choreography and style of movement with music. Emma began training circus skills in 1999, quickly choosing to specialise in the aerial disciplines. Her training in dance has given her a rare grace as an aerial artist.
2001 brought a chance to hone and perfect her skills during a fourteen month contract as a solo aerialist in the Jupiter’s Casino production “Hidden Palace”. From 2002 until today, she has performed in an almost constant stream of corporate and charity events throughout Australia and Asia, creating different costumes, music and choreography to suit their large variety of themes and staging.
Emma is now sought after by many emerging and professional artists as an advanced aerial trainer and choreographer. Her skills have added that missing touch to countless aerial performances.
Marianna Joslin (Beginner Acro, Intermediate Trapeze, tissu, tumbling, )
Mayu Muto (Intermediate & Advanced Tissu, lyra, rope, teardrop, juggling)
Mayu is a freelance aerialist and circus performer and is a graduate of Bachelor of applied Science ( Human Movement studies) QUT minoring in Fine Arts dance. She has a strong background in Ballet and performed extensively during youth in Japan and studied various forms of dance in Royal Antwerp dance school in Belgium prior to moving to Australia.
Mayu teaches circus aerials and dance to both children and adults at various schools in Brisbane. She incorporate her knowledge of exercise science from Human Movement studies and dance into teaching circus and passionate about encouraging people to explore their own styles. Mayu also teaches/has taught pole dancing, fitness classes, Pilates and Zumba.
Pheobe Manning (Circus Fun for adults, pole, juggling, clowning, kids & teens)
Pheobe Manning has a long history of performance and artswork. She completed her Bachelor of Arts (Drama Major) at QUT in 1990 and then a Grad Dip of Education (Drama and English) in1993. Pheobe has also studied with Sydney Aerial Theatre Association. She has performed trapeze, double trapeze, chinese pole, clown, burlesque and stilts. She is an experienced ensemble performer who’s ensemble works include the 2006 Crash Collective showing of Outside the Safety Zone, group stilt shows Outskirts and Frida, Home Fictions 2004 also with Sofia Woods and directed by Celia White, Physicalisms and the opening ceremony of Magdalena. She has also performed solo works at the Playspace in Sydney with The Group of Theatre Enthusiasts and for Angry Mime in Brisbane. Phoebe has trained in Social Circus and worked on a huge variety of Social Circus projects with diverse communities including disabled, Deaf, Indigenous, young people, and refugees.
Rachael Gibson (tissu, trapeze, duo trapeze, Cloud & Teardrop, Hula Hoops. lyra, rope)
Rachael Gibson has been working as a circus trainer and freelance performer since 2003, specialising in acro balance, hula hooping, and aerials such as cloud swing, tear drop, aerial ring, double trapeze and flying trapeze.
A long term trainer with Vulcana Women’s Circus, Rachael loves sharing her knowledge with others, and helping them to develop self-esteem, skills, and relationships within their communities.
Having trained as a yoga teacher in recent years, Rachael combines this knowledge with her love of circus to create an open-hearted, supportive and joyful learning environment.
Tami Dawson (Intermediate Lyra, Advanced Lyra, Advanced Tissu)
Tami is an energetic and passionate trainer with an eye for detail and form. Her creative and at times complex skills and choreography encourage her students to strive to achieve their goals. She specialises in teaching advanced lyra and tissu, choreography, contortion and conditioning/rehabilitation.
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Therapists in Court
Tim Bond and Amanpreet Sandhu
Reviewed by the Editor of Play for Life April 2006
Tim Bond is Reader in Counselling and Professional Ethics at
the University of Bristol. He drafted the BACP Ethical Framework in conjunction
with Alan Jamieson. Amanpreet Sandhu is Legal Resource Manager at the BACP,
This is the first in a series of handbooks providing legal
guidance for practitioners from all the talking therapies, including
counselling, psychotherapy and psychology. This statement on the back cover
might mislead potential play therapist readers into missing this book, which
would be a great pity. When will BACP stop using talking therapies or at least
include creative therapies in their generic descriptions?
The nine chapters are divided into two parts: Therapists
entering the legal process and Working with clients involved in the law. Only
one chapter Criminal Compensation has limited relevance to Play Therapists.
Although, based on English and Scottish law there are significant differences
within many of the principles of working with legal processes and the clients
subject to them have international applicability.
The book jumps in with some pertinent questions that may
also be some of your concerns:
A solicitor has written to me demanding all my notes about
one of my clients. Do I have to send them?
I have been approached to counsel a very anxious
10-year-old-girl who is waiting to appear as witness in a child abuse case. She
has changed from a happy outward-going girl to someone who is withdrawn at home
and school. She is just the witness, not the victim. Can I counsel her?
I have been ordered by court to appear as witness. I think
that this will completely disrupt the therapy with my client. We have discussed
her personal relationships in confidence and it seems wrong to break this
understanding and discuss them in a court with her relatives and the public
present. Do I have to do this?
I have been asked to provide a report about my work with my
client for a case concerning who looks after the children following a bitter
separation. I can say quite a lot in her favour but I also know things that
could work against her. Do I have to reveal these?
The chapters in part one show how you should respond to
solicitors’ letters, how to deal with court orders concerning the production of
documents or appearance as a witness in court, how to write reports for courts,
how to present your work as a witness and the fees and expenses that you may
Since a letter from a solicitor is normally the first event
in a court process it is important to get off to a good, professional start.
This chapter not only provides model responses but tells you about a recent
development in common law which restricts the client’s right to insist on
access to non electronic records, how to turn the tables on an aggressive solicitor
who is making what you might think are unreasonable demands for information and
the circumstances in which there is no obligation to respond or disclose notes.
The next stage will be a court order requiring disclosure of
notes and other records such as emails (do you keep copies?) contracts and
other relevant documents. There are two types: pre-action and standard
disclosure. It is important to understand the different requirements and
effects of disclosure if you are to do what is best for your client and their
parents/carers. A method of objecting to the production of documents is given
and the warning that confidentiality does not afford the privilege of
protection. Knowledge of the Form N265 requirements may alter your approach to
note and record keeping.
However in many cases Play Therapists will be required to
disclose information. Having established the confidential nature of the
therapy, it may take careful explanation and negotiation with a child to
explain that he or she is reporting to the court based on what they have been
told in confidence. Even if the child wishes the therapist to do so, there may
be some work required after the trial to re-establish the client’s
understanding of confidentiality. In other words think and plan well ahead to cover
The excellent guidance continues with the writing of reports
including three factors that underpin the approach of the Family Courts to
children’s cases and evidence in general stemming from the Children Acts 1989
and 2004. These factors are considerably different to the operation of other
types of Courts. All Play Therapists need to understand these. Also the
implications of being asked to be an expert witness.
Any request to write an expert witness report needs to be
considered carefully in order to assess whether the therapist is competent and
suitable to write it. The independent nature of the expert witness is an
important characteristic as there have been cases where clients have asked
their own therapists to write an expert report for use in court. In these
circumstances, therapists would need to make the following clear to their
clients (and their legal guardians Ed):
A report put to the court by an independent expert who has
never treated the client, will normally carry more weight than an expert report
put forward by the treating therapist, especially if the purpose of the report
is to provide an assessment.
circumstances, an expert report from a treating therapist may be requested,
especially for proceedings concerning children and families where it is
considered that increasing the number of professionals involved with the family
would be disruptive to the best interests of the children.
Clients need to know that the expert's responsibility is to
the court and that they have responsibility to report all relevant facts,
whether or not they are advantageous to the client.
The authors point out that agreeing to be an expert witness
should not be undertaken lightly. It is becoming commonplace for expert
witnesses to have received specific training in report writing and giving
evidence in court and ideally to have shadowed other expert witnesses.
The final chapter in the first part covers appearing as a
witness distinguishing between the different types of courts and between being
a witness of fact and an expert witness. This is supplemented by a later
chapter giving an overview of the UK legal systems and a plain English
glossary. Sound advice is given on how to prepare for a court appearance, the
order of proceedings, how to give evidence on the witness stand, what the judge
expects from therapists in their capacity as an expert witness and modes of
address in different courts. A separate section covers Coroner’s Courts.
The second part starts with Counselling Child Witnesses.
This is also essential reading for all Play Therapists unless you are
thoroughly familiar with: secondary victimisation and the role of therapy;
pre-trial/hearing therapy and the risk of contaminating evidence and
involvement of therapists in the legal process.
A diagram is provided that shows the spectrum of risk of the
different types of therapy in undermining evidence where work aimed at
improving self-esteem/self-confidence is at the low end and hypnotherapy,
psychodrama, regression techniques and unstructured groups are seen to pose
The chapter on Counselling Adult Victims and Witnesses
contains a warning and wise advice:
It is always in the defence's interest within an adversarial
criminal trial to seek to discredit any evidence against a defendant and any
ill-focused or poorly disciplined pre-trial counselling sessions are easy
targets for allegations of coaching with the effect of partially or wholly
undermining the evidence. Therapists are a relatively easy target for these allegations.
As soon as the defence knows that therapy has taken place they will realise
that this is a potential area of weakness in the prosecution's case. They will
also be aware that therapists have a collective reputation for being poor
witnesses in the box. They are viewed as a wild card who can often be tempted
into making comments that the defence can exploit.
Therapists who are untrained in giving evidence and the
expectations of courts blunder blindly on the false assumption that their
skills in the therapy room will protect them in the box. The reality is
probably the opposite. Many therapists may have made better witnesses before
they trained as therapists. Most therapy trainings increase sensitivity to the
client's subjective experience, whether cognitive, emotional or interpersonal,
and train the therapist to use their own subjectivity strategically to advance
the therapeutic process. Therapy of all kinds validates subjectivity and each
therapy has its preferred concepts and language to communicate its insights
about healing subjective wounds. Taking an impartial and objective view with a
fixation on facts is exactly what most therapists have been trained away from.
Yet, it is these very unwanted characteristics in a therapist that make a good
witness. The best witnesses have an ability to communicate a fact as clearly
and simply as possible, stripped of irrelevant detail and personal or
professional opinion, especially when based on subjective experience.
Therapeutic jargon should be avoided at all times. It may be quoted out of
context later in the trial in ways that the witness had not intended.
Alternatively, it may open up dangerous lines of questioning in
cross-examination, firstly about the meaning of the term, and then its
application to this client. The request for a few specific examples opens up
endless possibilities in cross-examination. It is often the therapist who wants
to use their time in the box to impress with their therapeutic competence or
the brilliance of a particular approach to therapy that is easiest prey in
cross-examination. They are playing the wrong game to the wrong rules, rather
like someone unknowingly playing Blind Man's Bluff, a children's party game, in
the middle of a closely fought rugby match. The outcome tends to be painful for
the therapist and ultimately can be very damaging to the client's respect and
trust, especially if his or her case is damaged, however unwittingly.
The authors show us what to do, offer further guidance and
what to avoid to prevent us falling into this trap presented succinctly in a
So many therapy books contain too much padding with
references to other published work that is already familiar. The reader has to
work hard to extract the gold from the dross. This title is not one of these.
Your reviewer read the whole book through in one sitting because of the clarity
of the writing and logical sequence. I wanted to know what to do next. Bearing
in mind that this is about legal matters, it may be described as
un-put-downable... – well almost! Let’s hope that the rest of the series is as
With an increasing amount of litigation and domestic strife
it is not so much a question of, Will I need this book? As, When will I need
it? So buy it now, read the chapter on court orders so that your note keeping
bears in mind the probability of disclosure of your records to a court and the
two chapters on counselling clients as witnesses and victims. Unless you want
to seek work as an expert witness you can at this stage put it on the shelf ready
for that dreaded day when a letter from a solicitor arrives concerning one of
You may buy this book through PTUK’s associate link to
Amazon. Help us to keep membership fees down.
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Aaditya Vikram Sharma*
Keywords: COPUOS – ISRO – Non-Aligned Movement – Peaceful uses – Space experiments
On 30 June 2022, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched the expendable medium-lift vehicle PSLV-C53 with three satellites. This was the second dedicated commercial mission of the New Space India Limited (NSIL) and the 55th flight of the ISRO workhorse. The mission was commended as another feather in the cap of the highly successful space agency, which has become globally known for its technical expertise and low cost of launches.
However, while the nation has made considerable strides in the space sector, it is legislatively lacking with no coherent domestic law to regulate space activities. This needs to be resolved as the Indian space industry has been witnessing the entry of private actors who have finally been allowed to access it. Pertinently, until a domestic law is laid down, the country will remain liable under international law without any clear responsibility or liability of the private actors.
Though the author in this paper points out that India has not drafted a domestic law till today, the emphasis is not on the lack of legislation but rather on the lack of a drive to make one. To that end, the author highlights India’s contributions to the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, 1967 (Outer Space Treaty or OST). Even though India lacked expertise at that time, it could put excellent notions on the table during the drafting of the treaty, especially when the cold war was at its peak. On a tangent, today, when the Indian space programme has achieved so much, it should strike the hammer and finally create an Indian space activities law.
The Indian Space Sector
The Government of India established ISRO in 1969. It launched its first satellite Aryabhata on 19 April 1975. ISRO has made many achievements since— it has helped detect water on the Moon, launched an orbiter to Mars and is actively planning a manned mission to the Moon. To date, ISRO has made 84 launches out of which only 9 have failed. The space agency has placed 114 Indian and 342 foreign satellites in space. In June 2020, the Indian government created IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre) through which private actors have been allowed to enter the Indian space industry. Further, the New Space India Ltd. (NSIL), the commercial wing of ISRO, has already conducted two missions. However, India lacks domestic space law for the regulation of these actors. Thus, in case of any mishap, international law will only apply.
India and the Outer Space Treaty
When the space race started, there were calls at the UN to regulate this potential arena of warfare. The initiative is usually attributed to the main space powers at the time, which were, the United States and the USSR. Pertinently, contemporary literature ignores the active role played by developing countries such as India in the drafting of the UN conventions covering international space law. In all fairness, the inception of the discussion on peaceful uses of outer space was a request by the USSR on 15 March 1958 and another by the US on 2 September 1958. Inter alia, both asked the UN to include the agenda of peaceful use of outer space. This led to the creation of an 18-member Ad Hoc Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space on 31 December 1958 through GA Res. 1348 (XIII). This Committee was created as a result of the discussion that had taken place in the thirteenth session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). It should be noted that para 1 of the Resolution states that the General Assembly-
Establishes an ad hoc Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space composed of the representatives of…India…
In other words, India was one of the nations added as a member of the first-ever Committee of the UN dealing with peaceful cooperation in space. But, interestingly, India abstained when the Resolution establishing the ad hoc committee was being passed. Further, India, alongside the United Arab Republic (UAR) decided not to participate in the work of the Ad Hoc Committee (the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space). The reason was the composition of the Committee as the USSR, Czechoslovakia and Poland decided not to participate. As she would clarify later, India did not believe that any actual progress could be made on the treaty unless both the space-faring nations were on board. Nevertheless, the Ad Hoc committee came up with a report in 1959.
India’s tryst with space law started with non-cooperation. The Ad Hoc committee met from 6 May 1959 to 25 June 1959 and India did not participate in its work. However, when the Committee gave its report, India joined the nations at the UN in creating a two-part draft resolution. Ambassador C.S. Jha, India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, outlined how it was the country’s wish to have both the space-faring nations on board any committee (as mentioned above, USSR did not participate in the Ad Hoc Committee). He gave a highly constructive suggestion by envisaging that the Antarctic Treaty, 1959 could serve as a model treaty for outer space. This idea is still highlighted in contemporary literature and some believe that it might also have been accepted at that time. Ambassador Jha further said-
Nevertheless, whatever might be the immediate objectives or possibilities of the proposed committee, the ultimate objective of any consideration of the problem must be the prohibition of the use of outer space for any military purposes whatsoever and the conclusion of a convention aiming at the solely peaceful utilisation of outer space for the benefit of man.
These words and the Ambassador’s contributions would ring true once the OST was drafted. In any case, in 1959, the draft resolution supported by India was passed with broadly minor changes. This Resolution, that is, UNGA Res. 1472 (XIV) turned the ad hoc committee into a permanent one and increased its membership to 24. India voted in favour of the Resolution. This established the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS).
UNCOPUOS started working immediately and gave reports on the basis of its mandate. Later, on 11 December 1961, India and its partner nations sponsored a resolution for the ‘International cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space.’ Notably, the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) had been established by that time. India was a founding member, and her Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, greatly advocated the unity of newly independent countries in a bipolar world. This led to India treading a neutral path in negotiations related to International Space Law without getting swayed by the US or the USSR. In September 1964, the 2nd Summit of Heads of State or Government of non-aligned movement was held in Cairo, Egypt. Among other things, it reiterated that there is a need of an international treaty prohibiting utilisation of outer space for military purposes. In the same year, India participated in the COPUOS meeting. India’s contributions to the UN legal initiatives can be traced to March 1964, when it insisted on absolute liability from damage caused by space objects and asked for a clarification on the application of the draft Convention. The Indian delegation also put forth the point that outer space should only be used for peaceful purposes and that it was not subject to national appropriation. In May 1964, India chaired the Consultative Group on Potentially Harmful Effects of Space Experiments. The country delegated the task to one of its most prominent scientists, Dr. Vikram Sarabhai. The group focused on the possible undesirable effects of space experiments on scientific activities and observations.
By 1965, India had secured a funding by the United Nations for the operation of the Thumba international equatorial sounding rocket facility. The mandate for the COPUOS was also expanded. In 1966, India along with the NAM countries, demanded exclusively the peaceful utilisation of outer space. The UNGA, through a resolution, adopted the report given by the COPUOS and also reiterated the mandate to continue cooperating with the Thumba facility. Especially of note is the fact that the UNGA also acknowledged the Cairo declaration of 1964 of the non-aligned movement. In 1966, as the OST was finalised, the new Indian Ambassador, G. Parthasarathy, highlighted problems with Article VII of the draft treaty given in the Soviet draft. The Article made States ‘internationally’ liable for any damage done by their space object(s) to another State. Ambassador Parthasarathy proposed that the term ‘internationally’ should be replaced with the ‘absolutely’. Many delegations supported this view.
Ambassador Parthasarathy also suggested a change to the draft Article IV, that is, the addition of the term “outer space”. Though this was not done, the efforts of India were acknowledged by the Soviet Union.
India continued to be an active participant in 1966. She, along with Brazil and the United Arab Republic, insisted on education and training programmes with a focus on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space for developing countries. This request was reiterated by specialised agencies of the UN which suggested a pilot programme should be initiated. Ambassador Parthasarathi stated that his delegation wholeheartedly supported any such imitative dealing with education, training, exchange of information and encouragement of international programmes.
Several of Indian initiatives have received due recognition in the Outer Space Treaty, and thus, stand as the evidence of early Indian efforts in the space law-making.
The world is a much different place than it was 60 years ago. The satellite launches of the 1950s are now recurring events which hardly attract any attention. Instead, fascinating new technologies like Internet satellite constellations and potential interstellar launch vehicles have come up. But, international space law is still frozen in time. On the other hand, ISRO has done a commendable job over the years. However, now, as privatisation has started, it has become even more pertinent to draft domestic legislation dealing with space, especially considering the laxity of international space law. As the research above shows, India is quite capable of drafting and envisaging principles in new technologies and the space sector. Even sixty years ago, when its space programme was still in its infancy, the country had the foresight and expertise to participate in the process of the creation of international space treaties. Further, it participated with vigour and the current treaties carry India’s mark on them. Therefore, as ISRO embarks on its new space venture, it is recommended that a comprehensive space law should be enacted using the experience gained in drafting the international treaties. The drive to do so can be obtained by looking at the nation’s historical achievements.
* The author is pursuing Ph.D. in Space Law at the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata
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Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2016 10:22 PM
To: Jean Baker
Subject: My kitchen!
I just wanted to say that I am in love with my new kitchen. It is soooo beautiful! I have gotten many compliments and I always tell them about S&W Kitchens! Many thanks to you for your expert knowledge and professionalism. :)
From Marlene and Steve Preston:
July 2014: We hired Elise to renovate our kitchen and are so very happy with the renovation so far. Elise helped me and led me to design a beautiful kitchen which also has extended into our living room and guest bath. Each crew has come into our home with respect to us; they know their job and professionally get it done. Today the wood floors were installed, and the workers stayed until after 9 p.m. to get the job done. Tomorrow the cabinets are going to be unveiled, and I am so excited! I would recommend Elise and S&W designs to anyone with a lot of confidence.
July 29, 2014: The work in our kitchen and dining room is about half way done. It's beautiful!! Most of the cabinets are in and the countertop was measured today. I would like to make special mention about Dale, the gentleman who put in our kitchen cupboards. He came, worked alone, and it was nice watching him because he knew just what to do and in the right order. Truly an artist. Also our supervisor Tim is right on the spot. If we have any questions and call him he returns the call in an orderly time. Elise is truly the designer. She comes in and walks around checking things out and is able to see just what has to be done, any adjustments to be made. So far this has been a truly good experience.
August 13, 2014: Look! It's almost finished! Isn't it beautiful? I can't tell you how happy I am. The whole project crew has been wonderful. Very personable, and they know their job. I said to my husband this morning "they come in, do their job, clean up and leave.” It’s nice not having to worry about the job not being done right. I will truly have the most beautiful kitchen when Elise and her professional crew are finished.
August 15, 2014: It was an exciting day at our house. There were electricians, appliance men and a plumber, all doing their thing. The electricity was connected and all my lighting was hung; all my appliances were connected. It’s so wonderful to be able to cook in the kitchen, and my refrigerator is so happy to be back in the house. Also it’s wonderful not to have to do dishes in the bathroom. Now it’s just little things to finish up and hopes are we'll be finished by the 25th and I can move my things back in and make it mine. This has been a good experience, even with the inconveniences. I have nothing to compare with, but I find Elise and her crew to be outstanding
September 21, 2014: Our kitchen is finished and has been for a couple of weeks but I didn't want to write about it until I had my things in it and organized and had used it for a while. WOW!!! It more than met my expectations. It is a very user friendly kitchen as well as being BEAUTIFUL. My husband, Steve, and I find ourselves just sitting or standing and looking at it and can't believe we actually did it for ourselves. Thanks to Elise, for all the beautiful decorating ideas and to Tim Hobson and his team. The expected finish time was 12 weeks and it was finished and I was moved in at 9 weeks. Again, I can't say enough about the workers, courteous, clean, respected our home, knew their job and got it done. A BIG THANK YOU to all the workers. Tim should be very proud of them, I know I am. We recommended S& W kitchens to our neighbors and they are having two bathrooms done. I am a very happy person and therefore I have a very happy husband!
April 4, 2013
S & W Kitchens
Dear Brian, Tim, Jim, and All Who Helped,
This letter has been a long time coming, not because I didn’t deem it important, but because I DID feel it was important. I want to acknowledge the incredible work you all did for us in the kitchen remodel in the fall.
There are no words to describe how perfectly it went. How beautiful AND functional it is. How much we sit and stare and realize that it feels like the way our house should have been, a seamless change to something greater.
Brian, your plans are terrific, the cabinets a dream in performance, fit, design, and function. You steered us to people with skills that made it seem easy (to us). You were dealing with me (who has no vision, just a ‘like’ or ‘dislike’ reaction, sometimes delayed). You patiently walked me through HUGE changes, like an undermount sink, cabinets with some flair, etc.
Tim, you had the most time with us. You became like a family member, but of the most considerate nature. You told us from the beginning just how things would happen, and you followed through. We have never felt like we were in such good hands during a project until now. You keep a level of professionalism, pride in your work that is palpable, and you deliver. We have never had a worksite so clean, so well-organized, so skillfully executed. When you told us something would happen, it did—or you told us what to expect if there was any (slight)delay.
To have the residents living in the home while you are working must be challenging. But you were so easy. The hours were 8-5, phone calls were made to alert us to comings and goings. There was such an air of respect among your workers and subs. It was a mutual thing between you and them, and we have never seen such a high level of professionalism and friendliness, ever. You treated our family like longtime friends.
Tim treated our house as if it were his own. His crew did the same. He kept his sense of humor, his quality, his hands-on, eyes-on way with the job from start to finish. Tim’s crew deserves a lot of credit too, and we really felt like they were trustworthy and highly competent.
I also want to acknowledge Jim for his engineering of the project, and the fun meetings, with all the details so perfectly there in front of us. He knows his stuff! A very nice man and an asset to your company too.
Many thanks from us, and we love our beautiful kitchen.
With Appreciation, Rick and Cindy Susi
"I am writing to compliment you on hiring Brooke Edwards, who is a competent and creative cabinet designer. Brooke worked with me for days to come up with a spectacular kitchen. Not only was her design wonderful, but so was the price. She was able to make my designer kitchen competitive in price with such chain stores as Lowe’s and Home Depot. I have told all my neighbors and friends what a wonderful job Brooke has done and I rave about your company. This is the second time I have used S & W for a kitchen remodel and your company does not disappoint in the area of kitchen remodel."
"Your professionalism continued to show through with Andre, our cabinet installer, who was always on time, friendly and did an amazing job on the installation. His work is truly beautiful."
Thank you again to Brooke for such a wonderful kitchen.
For over 20 years, S & W has practiced "Custom-Keeper" service and they always do exactly what they say. Our customers love their showroom with so many options available, where S & W can provide just about anything they want."
--Dave Brewer, Dave Brewer Homes
|"S & W totally renovated our kitchen from top to bottom. Everything was orchestrated, on time and within budget - no issues! They made it easy and I am 250% satisfied. I love my kitchen!"|
|"I wanted to thank you and your installation team for a wonderful job at my home. My husband and I were very pleased with the quality of the cabinets and countertops. The two installers were terrific! They were prompt, professional, and did a perfect installation in our kitchen. Every measurement was exact and the finish detail looks very nice. We will be thrilled to show off our new and improved kitchen and will gladly refer our family and friends to your company. Please extend our thanks to the installers who worked so diligently. They are a credit to your business."|
My husband and I recently had our kitchen redone by S & W. Elise Conner was our designer. She did an amazing job combining the elements I wanted with ideas of her own to transform our very dated kitchen into an absolutely gorgeous one.
Elise came up with ideas I never would have thought of, such as paneling the exterior of the bar to match our cabinets, which gives the bar such beauty and elegance. Her choices of countertop material and color, cabinet hardware, and backsplash design were perfect!! In fact, the backsplash is the focal point of the kitchen. It is truly a work of art.
Even though it’s been a few months since the project was completed, I still find myself standing in the kitchen, examining all the new elements and feeling really happy about the result. At night with the new under-cabinet lights and hanging globes dimmed, the room is so lovely and feels so comforting. I’m so pleased that I happened to meet Elise the day I walked into S & W to interview for the project. She has great vision and talent.
As for the project itself, Joe and Geoff did a great job managing it. All work was done in a professional manner and on time. Communication was great and the crews were very nice, helpful, and of course, skilled. I have already recommended your company to others, and we will be using Elise’s services next year (probably) when we re-do our master bathroom. GOOD JOB S & W!!!!
Sincerely, Maurie Bosse
Thank you for the cookies, they were very delicious, and we had a nice vacation. Of course you could use us as a referral. We love our new kitchen and all of the help you provided us. You were able to help us piece together the different items and colors so that they would come together in the style that we like.
When people come over and visit, they remark what a wonderful look the kitchen is and that they really like the open and warm feeling it presents. I think the quality of the craftsmanship really stands out and we like the tile work and counter tops the most, which is probably because it is the main items that stand out.
The subcontractors who performed the work were very courteous, professional and experienced. We never felt uncomfortable or that they were not concerned with any issues we brought up and the items needing to be addressed were dealt with in a timely manner, generally within 1-2 days. Seth was easy to work with and he provided ideas to consider when decisions needed to be made.
We were recommended by friends to use S & W Kitchens because they had a good experience and were happy with the work done at their place. Now you have another customer who will pass the compliments along as well. For the investment and options that are involved with remodeling and creating a new itchen, your experience and creativity helped us create our vision into a reality. You worked with us to stay within our budget which can be challenging when there are many options. Thank you again for all of your creativity, attention to detail and support, it was a pleasure working with you.
Sincerely, Mike and Judy Griffin
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This article is written as penance. What did I do wrong? About six weeks ago, I wrote an article that had a lot of formats and variants for casual play in it. Well, I forgot one. A long time ago, a writer named Anthony Alongi created a play variant for multiplayer called Mercenaries. It's a lot of fun, so as penance I created a modern Mercenaries stack and will explain the variant today.
Like many variants, Mercenaries adds a couple of rules to the game, but it does not change the nature of decks. There are no rules about how to build your deck or what is banned. You can play Mercenaries with Commander decks, Five Color decks, or Standard decks—it doesn't matter.
The format was designed to give players the opportunity to get a creature out at any time. You don't have to pay their high casting costs either, which is great. Let's start with the rules:
Prior to the game beginning, someone in your playgroup will need to have made a Mercenaries stack, which we will discuss at length in a bit. I built one a few nights ago, and it took me 45 minutes from start to finish.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may choose to pay for a Mercenary. Once you have done that, you are locked in and must pay for the Mercenary. You flip over the top card on the Mercenaries stack, and then you pay its Mercenary cost.
Each card is in a sleeve, and inside of that sleeve is a number which is its Mercenary Point (MP) cost.
In order to pay for one MP, you must do one of four things:
1) Pay seven life
2) Exile a card from your hand
3) Exile two nonland and nontoken permanents you control
4) Exile the top twenty cards of your library
So if you flip a Mercenary with a cost of two, you must pay for two MP. If you cannot pay for the creature, then you lose the game.
Mercenary cards have a few rules:
Mercenaries are treated as if they are token creatures if they leave play. So if they are bounced, Flickered, killed, or shuffled back into your library, instead they are exiled and stay there. Anything that can be directed their way normally can continue to do so. They can be stolen, killed by the legend rule, and so forth.
You may not control more than one Mercenary at a time. If you do, then both are immediately exiled.
Mercenaries have a special rule: when they leave the battlefield, then the controller may get a new Mercenary and pay its cost. This gives you an opportunity to have a rolling Mercenary.
Okay, I have my Mercenary stack. Would you like to see it? Let's begin!
These cost one MP to play; they are simpler and at the smaller end of good multiplayer creatures.
These ten creatures can be had for a single MP. None of them are broken on their own, but you will notice that some are more powerful than others. In the past, Lhurgoyf would be much higher and powerful, but with so much graveyard removal these days in multiplayer, its power is greatly reduced, so now it fits here nicely. Is the best creature here the vanilla 10/10 Ghoultree? Or is it Clone, which has a lot of flexibility sometimes but sucks other times? (I moved Clone down from Anthony's list to the one spot). Is it Phyrexian Colossus or Chancellor of the Forge? Play and find out!
Unlike Anthony Alongi, I did not feel the need to balance creatures by color. I didn't care if the stack had more green cards or red cards. I just wanted good guys. I also was limited by what was not already in my decks or in other projects such as Type 4 or Momir Vig. I also made my one MP guys better than his. I would hate to flip Cloud Djinn, a 5/4 flyer with a weakness, and have to spend a Mercenary Point for it. I would also hate to flip Flowstone Sculpture—these cards are not worth the price of admission.
These cards are my two MP creatures.
The next ten creatures have an added level of power. The big Molimo has trample to smash through. Creatures can get powerful card advantage over time or immediately as Verdant Force, Wrexial, and Nefarox demonstrate. The Demon and Sphinx immediately net you one or more cards of value plus a good body. This is a nice little upgrade of power over the first level.
From Anthony's list, we are dropping Verdant Force down from three MP where it didn't belong and upgrading Reya Dawnbringer. I have no idea how Anthony thought Reya was just a two MP creature. Some of Anthony's two MP guys puzzle me, like Teeka's Dragon. Do I want to spend two MP for a 5/5 flyer that has just trample and rampage 4? I don't think so.
Now let's look at the most powerful. These guys each cost three MP:
I rocked ten cards each for levels one and two, but here I only went with eight creatures, in part because I didn't have an extra Akroma or Spirit of the Night and in part to make it slightly less likely that someone will flip a big guy. Each of these is among the most powerful creatures running around for its power. Some of these are houses—Reya is nasty when left alone. Remember that you flip Mercenaries at the beginning of your upkeep. (This is a change from Anthony's rule). Therefore, you do not get upkeep triggers that turn (and that is why I made that change). Reya is broken over time, but people get a turn to respond. Meanwhile, Sun Titan gets you something now but has a diminished potential for nastiness over time.
Sometimes you'll flip something that doesn't work with your deck. If you pay three MP for Tariel when you have a deck built around Planar Void and Leyline of the Void proactively keeping opposing graveyards down, you'll be disappointed. If you get Sun Titan in a deck with no cards of that cost in the graveyard to recur, that's rough. You could flip Clone on an empty board. It's funny, but it happens.
I did include Anthony's suggestion of the one or three creatures. Here's how these five guys work. If you are playing that color, then you must spend three MP for them. If you cannot, then just one MP is needed. What if you have a City of Brass in play but are not playing that color? You just pay one MP for it, and you got lucky with a nice creature—good job. These five cost one or three:
Each of these adds a nice slate of power. Getting a creature that can get protection from any color for one white, Pestilencing the population for one black, Firebreathing and smashing face well, drawing a card, or doubling power over and over again all seem nuts if you have that color.
I also took Anthony's suggestion and built a group of creatures that require a bid. Here is how a bid creature works. When you reveal one of these, you then must decide whether or not you even want the creature. Decide, and then you begin the bidding with zero MP. Bidding goes around the table auction style until someone wins. If you win, you either get the creature or you don't. If you don't win, the opposite happens.
You are not bidding for the creature, like Illicit Auction. Instead, people are bidding to have the opposite of what you want to happen. These creatures all have disadvantages to certain play styles and decks, so they are guys you might not want. If they break your deck open, then people might want you to pay a little more for them, so everything will work out. Here are my seven bid creatures.
Take Doran for example. You might love him if you have creatures with high toughness out. I would love him in my decks of Commander Eesha, Indomitable Ancients, Wall of Blossoms, and Silklash Spiders. If you have the opposite, then he sucks. If you have out a bunch of 4/4 or 7/7 dudes, then Doran is just a vanilla 5/5. It all depends on your state of game. Avatar of Slaughter gives opposing creatures double strike and forces them to attack just like you do. That is a nasty card at the wrong time. Thundermare taps everything down, including your own stuff, to hit for five. You may not want that. So you can see how these hose you or help you depending on the situation.
Anthony had some zero cost MP creatures, and these gave your opponent a benefit, like Hired Giant or Hunted Wumpus. I didn't like that because it was bad to flip over a Mercenary in most cases like that. I didn't want the Mercenaries to have that kind of issue. I thought about having a five set of zero cost creatures that were just okay and not great, like Air Elemental or Serra Angel or something. These would just add a body for free to the table but not push you. So that was a thought of mine, and perhaps I will go there later.
I did add a pair of cards that I considered outside of Alongi's categories. They are X payment creatures, and I have just two right now:
X is equal to the power and toughness of the creature divided by ten, rounded up. Take Serra Avatar: pay one MP for Serra Avatar for each ten life you have, rounded up. So if you have seventeen life, you spend two MP, and if you have 21, you pay three MP. This gives you creatures cost to their scale. This also shows that Ghoultree's 10/10 vanilla nature is at the top of one MP because that 11/11 vanilla Lord or Avatar costs two MP to rock.
A major point I want to make concerns the X. It needs to stay away from other abilities that make them good. You don't see Multani, Mortivore, or Molimo here. I kept Lhurgoyf at the one MP level because it's not going to be very high since it only looks at your graveyard, but if your experience varies, then by all means move it to the X spot. But keep out tramplers, flyers, and other abilities on these sorts of creatures.
That gives me a total Mercenary stack of 42 creatures. When one is exiled after being in play, it does not go to a Mercenary graveyard. Instead, they remain exiled, and if the stack is exhausted, then the Mercenaries are done for the game. It's time to give them a break.
Special Commander Adjunct
The rules for Mercenaries assume that people are playing a format where folks begin with 20 life and have 60-card decks. When you begin with 40 life instead and have 100-card decks, then two methods to pay for Mercenaries are better. Try them out at your casual table as is, but if you have to increase them, feel encouraged to do so.
If you find the life and mill payments to be too low, then increase life to ten life and milling to 25 and see how that goes. If it still doesn't work, double the life lost to fourteen and that should keep things in the right place. You may have to increase cards to 30. I doubt it though—Commander players are very protective of their libraries, and I doubt they will pay MP even through 20 cards very often. Life costs seem vulnerable though. A simple Invincible Hymn allows someone to pay their Mercenary costs with ease. Maybe they will flip over Serra Avatar and have to make seven MP to keep it in play and hammer their board position; that would be very funny to observe!
I hope that you enjoyed this look at another quirky variant for multiplayer. If you enjoyed it, why not look through your rares, find some good choices, and try it out!
P.S. Anthony's original article is here.
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Formosan rock macaques ( (Kunts and Myers, 1969)) are found in the mountainous terrain of northeastern and southwestern Taiwan. They may once have been associated with the sea coast but have now been largely restricted to inland hills because of human activity (Kuntz and Myers, 1969).
Formosan rock macaques inhabit primarily mixed coniferous-hardwood temperate forest, as well as bamboo and grassland at elevations between 100 and 3600 m . They are also found in coastal areas. (Grzimek, 1988) (Grzimek, 1988)
Formosan rock macaques are quadrupedal (Fleagle, 1988). They use cheek pouches to carry food in while foraging. The pelage is dark gray to brown in color. Tail length varies from 26 to 46 cm and body lengh ranges from 36 to 45 cm. They typically weigh 5 to 12 kg, though some adult males can be over 18 kg. The hairs are soft, a dark gray color in winter and an olive drab in summer; abdominal skin is slightly blue (Grzimek, 1988). (Fleagle, 1988; Grzimek, 1988)
Most macaques are polygynous. Given the sexual dimorphism in size seen in (Grzimek, 1988), it is reasonable to assume that this species is, also.
Formosan rock macaques give birth to a single offspring per pregnancy. During estrus the perineum of the female swells at the base of the tail and along the thighs.
Gestation period is about 165 days. Young weigh an average of 400 g at birth. The mating season occurs from November through January, with births occuring from April through June. The mating season coincides with the peak of fruit availability. Females 5 to 9 years old usually give birth every other year, older females give birth every year (Rowe, 1996).
In most macaques, nursing lasts for about one year. Young are typically independent after about two years, although may retain life-long associations with their mother. (Fleagle, 1988; Grzimek, 1988; Nowak, 1991; Rowe, 1996)
Most parental care is provided by the mother. She grooms, nurses, protects her infant until it becomes independent. In most macaques, the period of nursing is about a year. Young are typically independent by two years of age. However, females may have relationships with their female kin for the remainder of their lives. Females remain in their natal group with the onset of maturity, but males disperse shortly before adolescence. There is a hierarchical dominance system among group members based upon the matriline.
Most species in the genus Macaca live to be about 30 years old in captivity. Lifespans in the wild are probably shorter. It is reasonable to assume that is like other members of the genus in this respect. (Nowak, 1991)
Formosan rock macaques are diurnal primates with a multimale-multifemale social system with group sizes averaging 45 individuals. However, because of the recent decline in numbers, group structure resembles that of a unimale system and group sizes range typically between 2 and 10 individuals. Troops have 2 to 8 males, with a ratio of 1.25 males to 1.5 females. Territories overlap partially. Males emigrate and are solitary or form bachelor troops. Small troops with only 1 male have been observed to have an influx of bachelor males during the breeding season.
This macaque species, with its rounded head and flat muzzle, is intermediate in size and appearance between rhesus monkeys and Java monkeys. Reports dating from the previous century mention that this animal traveled with great agility over virtually inaccessible rocks on the seacoast, and that it lived in part on crustaceans and mollusks. Currently this macaque species persists only in the central hill country of Taiwan.
Formosan rock macaques are ground dwellers, comfortable in terrain with few trees or none. They are not shy and sometimes visit the fields of Taiwanese villagers, where they dig sweet potatoes and peanuts. They are hunted for this reason, and as a source of meat. (Grzimek, 1988) (Grzimek, 1988)
Formosan rock macaques emit 'scream calls' when approached by a non-group members. Group members answer this call with a sound that sounds like "kyaw-kyaw".
A fear grimace is when the lips are retracted so that the teeth are shown and clenched (Estes, 1991). This display functions as an appeasement signal to reduce aggression in aggressive encounters (Estes, 1991).
Staring with an open mouth but with the teeth covered indicates aggression (Estes, 1991).
As in other macaques, it is likely that tactile communication (grooming, playing, fighting, mating) is also important. There may be some chemical communication in the form a pheromones. (Estes, 1991; Grzimek, 1988)
Formosan rock macaques consume a wide variety of foods, including fruits, leaves, berries, seeds, insects, animal prey, buds, young shoots, and small vertebrates. These macaques reportedly raid crops (Rowe, 1996).
These animals may be important in local food webs, and in helping to disperse seeds.
Macaques are popular zoo animals because of their active lifestyle and adaptability. They are also useful in biological, medicinal, and psychological research because of their similarity to humans in physiology and disease susceptibility. These animals may also be hunted for food. (Nowak, 1991)
Parasites that infectmay be transmitted to humans, this is particularly a problem in recent years as tourism increases in the regions they inhabit and contact with humans becomes more frequent. They also are known to raid crops.
Situated in a subtropical zone, Taiwan possesses a warm and moist climate and a large variety of plants and wild life. Of the world's approximately 4,500 species of mammals, Taiwan has 61. In order to protect these precious natural resources in the face of growing economic development the Taiwanese government has in recent years actively promoted concepts of, and measures for, environmental conservation which have become widely accepted by the general public. Taiwan actively participates in important international treaties and organizations such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
once occured throughout Taiwan, but is now restricted to remote highlands by human encroachment. Macaques are killed for food, medicinal preparations, and taken as pets and for research purposes. The primary threat to their populations is habitat destruction.
Nancy Shefferly (editor), Animal Diversity Web.
Crystal Chiu (author), West Windsor-Plainsboro High School, Joan Rasmussen (editor), West Windsor-Plainsboro High School.
uses sound to communicate
having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.
uses smells or other chemicals to communicate
ranking system or pecking order among members of a long-term social group, where dominance status affects access to resources or mates
animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.
A substance that provides both nutrients and energy to a living thing.
forest biomes are dominated by trees, otherwise forest biomes can vary widely in amount of precipitation and seasonality.
offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes).
having the capacity to move from one place to another.
the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.
an animal that mainly eats all kinds of things, including plants and animals
found in the oriental region of the world. In other words, India and southeast Asia.
having more than one female as a mate at one time
breeding is confined to a particular season
remains in the same area
reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female
associates with others of its species; forms social groups.
uses touch to communicate
that region of the Earth between 23.5 degrees North and 60 degrees North (between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle) and between 23.5 degrees South and 60 degrees South (between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle).
Living on the ground.
A terrestrial biome. Savannas are grasslands with scattered individual trees that do not form a closed canopy. Extensive savannas are found in parts of subtropical and tropical Africa and South America, and in Australia.
A grassland with scattered trees or scattered clumps of trees, a type of community intermediate between grassland and forest. See also Tropical savanna and grassland biome.
A terrestrial biome found in temperate latitudes (>23.5° N or S latitude). Vegetation is made up mostly of grasses, the height and species diversity of which depend largely on the amount of moisture available. Fire and grazing are important in the long-term maintenance of grasslands.
uses sight to communicate
reproduction in which fertilization and development take place within the female body and the developing embryo derives nourishment from the female.
"Formosan rock-monkey" (On-line). Accessed (Date Unknown) at http://www.gio.gov.tw/info/ecology/specific/monk_e.html.
Burton, F. 1995. "The Multimedia Guide to the Non-human Primates". Prentice-Hall Canada Inc..
Estes, R. 1991. "The Behavior Guide to African Mammals". University of Califormia Press..
Fleagle, J. 1988. "Primate Adaptation and Evolution". Academic Press..
Grzimek, B. 1988. Grzimek's Encyclopedia of Mammals. Volume 2. NY: McGraw-Hill.
Kunts, R., B. Myers. 1969. A check-list of parasites and commensals reported for the Taiwan macaque. Primates, 10: 71-80.
Nowak, R. 1991. Walker's Mammals of the World. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Rowe, N. 1996. The Pictorial Guide to The Living Primates. Pogonias Press.
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SI 60 Q&A: Gary Smith on writing 'Higher Education' -- twice
Higher Education tells the story of Perry Reese Jr., an African-American man who in 1983 became the boys’ varsity basketball coach at the overwhelmingly white Hiland High School, located in an Amish and Mennonite community in Ohio. Reese died in 2000, but not before changing the town and the lives of its citizens. When it ran in the March 5, 2001 issue of Sports Illustrated the story generated an enormous response from readers. It was yet another classic tale by Gary Smith, but its success masked a surprisingly difficult writing process for the man who was nominated for 10 National Magazine Awards. I spoke to Smith recently about the story that ran, the one that didn’t and what he thinks of it today.
SI: This is one of those terrific stories that no one seems to have heard of before seeing it in the magazine. Where did you find it?
SMITH: I was living in Sydney, Australia, in 1999, in advance of the 2000 Summer Olympics, and someone came over – I can’t remember who, probably a family member -- to spend a couple weeks, and they brought USA Today. In a sports wrap-up article it had a couple sentences about an African-American coach in a town that was mostly Mennonite and Amish who led his team to a state title but was gravely ill with brain cancer and wasn’t talking to anyone. It just struck me, and I thought, Wow, there’s gotta be something there. I filed it away that when I got home I was going to check into that story.
As soon as I got home after the Olympics I called the high school and they said he had just died a couple weeks ago. I asked if I could I come out and they said yes. Literally the next morning I was on a plane to Ohio. It all came together really quickly. I started talking to people and they were so moved by this guy and in such mourning and talked about him with such reverence that right away my instincts had been right that there really was something there.
SI: What did you find when you spoke to people in that community?
SMITH: He really was an outsider who came out of the blue. He was like a mystery to the town when he first showed up. By the end of it, to see the ripple effects this man had caused in so many ways besides basketball was like the funnel opening up, slipping in through the narrow end and widening over time and coming to touch people in so many ways even down to the end of his life.
SI: How did the reporting go?
SMITH: I started at the high school with the guidance counselor, the principal, the secretary, all the people who had dealt with him on a day-to-day basis and just asked them for names of who else this man had touched. This was really a cross generational thing, because parents who never would have dreamed that they’d be entrusting their kids over to this guy they knew that if their kid was going over to Perry’s house good things were happening. The team was bonding and they were learning about life and about Muhammad Ali and Martin Luther King and things they wouldn’t have been exposed to much in that town and to different ways of thinking. His integrity was just that powerful that people came to trust him by letting their armor down bit by bit by bit.
Then there was always the intrigue that hung over the story: What drove this guy to walk into a foreign territory like that and live isolated for a couple years until he found his way in?
SI: And you never had the chance to talk to him of course.
SMITH: Right. Some of that could be resolved but mostly it wasn’t. He remained a mysterious character and his family didn’t even understand why he did it.
You always wish you could talk to the person but once I knew the real story was the effect he had then in some ways, with him being gone, everyone was free to be even more open than I think they would have been had he been alive. There was a trade off involved there, but in this case, story-wise, you gain more power than you would have had. He probably wasn’t the kind of guy who was going to self-reveal either. He kept things pretty tight to the vest. It’s interesting how someone that private can make others more transparent.
SI: High school kids aren’t usually known as the most emotionally descriptive people. Was it hard getting the material you needed from them?
SMITH: Like you said the 16, 17-year-old male isn’t renowned for handing you the keys to his heart, but that was offset to a pretty large degree by their understanding that something profound had just passed through their lives. They didn’t want to let go, they wanted to keep it alive in a way. They loved the idea that the whole world was going to know this mystery that had fallen into this little town. There was a real desire to share that probably eclipsed the classic teenage male withdrawal and the classic Mennonite and Amish inclination of withdrawing and closing up.
It was more that Perry did something than I did, by far. His spirit was definitely at work in getting them to come forward.
SI: It sometimes seems every town has a great hidden story to tell, often in sports. Why did this one stand out to you?
SMITH: I thought the stakes were higher, the paradox was deeper, the extremes of culture were greater. You get quieter examples of this kind of stuff happening in towns all over America and sports has the ability to kind of midwife those moments, which is maybe the most wonderful thing of all about sports. This one raised the ante on all of them.
SI: So you knew right away you had a great story.
SMITH: This one sort of came the most obviously. All the bells were ringing, all the stars were aligning. When that doesn’t happen on a story I’m the sort who thinks that maybe I should dig harder and find five more people to talk to about it -- spend another hour with them beyond what they thought they were going to spend. This one, the gates just opened up.
SI: How was the writing of the piece?
SMITH: As easily as the gates opened on this story in everybody’s hearts it actually turned out more difficult to get right in the writing than I would have initially guessed. I wrote the whole thing in the voice of an imaginary villager in the town. I was going to have a character talking about what happened to us, like something had swept through the town and was gone almost like this voice is talking to someone who shows up afterward and he’s going to tell you the tale of what came through his village.
I wrote the whole story that way and it just didn’t quite have the power or the impact that it should have, that it needed to have. That’s when I had that sick moment of, Crap, I gotta start over. And then I realized that maybe by straining the story through three real people I could bring it down to something more manageable. You start with the first person, develop it through the second person and a hit a climax through the third person.
Which meant once I picked those three people I had to call them back, bounce a bunch of things off them that I wanted to get in the story but make sure it was true and strain it though those three individuals. So I did. I called them back and had to run it through them to see what their responses were and what they were feeling at that time. That was a good amount more of telephone interviewing. It was a couple weeks writing the first one, three or four days of additional interviewing and probably just short of two weeks to write the second one.
SI: Had you filed the first one or told anyone how you were doing it?
SMITH: I hadn’t send it in, and unless [senior editor] Chris Hunt called -- which he did once in a while, to say, “Where are you at?” – I would just stay in my cocoon.
SI: Was that the normal amount of time it would take you to write a story?
SMITH: It was closer to three weeks usually. I’d just take it as it came. I started from the beginning, I never started elsewhere as I’ve heard other people do. The voice had to develop organically from the beginning. If you hadn’t gotten them all laid down from the beginning and let them grow organically you’d be operating blind if you tried to write sections later. Each day I’d start back and read through what I had and do a lot of editing as I went. By the time I reached the point where I’d left off the previous day, it got the voice back in your head you could see little things you could seed into it. You might drop one more seed in there that you now know is going to be blossoming that you know is set up a little better, or you might pull it back a little more -- maybe you went too far earlier and you need to restrain it. Just making all these balancing decisions as you go.
SI: Other writers have said that writing bonus stories took a year off their life. You wrote virtually nothing but bonuses, so first of all: How’s your health? And second, given that you had to write this story twice, were you ready for it to be over with by then?
SMITH: (Laughs.) I’m fine. I never got sick of it, but when you’re on your second write-through there’s relief when you get to the end and it can kind of be like you’re coming out of a dream. You’ve been so caught up with this swirl.
I always felt like it was more a learning expedition and I approached them more with the feeling of writing a short story. It was definitely a deep experience each time but it didn’t feel like it was carving years off my life or a pound of flesh.
SI: What was the reaction to the piece?
SMITH: There was a real emotional response. It got more letters than any story I ever wrote for SI. For some reason the number over 600 comes to mind. Some of them may have been emails then, but people were still moved to sit down and write letters.
It’s always gratifying to know that things you were trying to get to and point to found their mark. That’s always a good feedback to a) inspire you to move into the next story and b) to know that things you’re attempting and trying to show without quite saying, that people got it. It helps you to know you’re in the right ballpark.
SI: Do you regret that your original idea didn’t work out?
SMITH: I trusted that even thought the first idea intellectually sounded cooler to me and drew me in -- just picturing this narrator taking you around the town and showing you all these things that happened -- you gotta just go with those ideas and try them. Those things might work better in another piece. But this one was so directly emotional that you ended up feeling it more when you stuck with the real people rather than this creative voice. So no, no regrets at all. There’s always that deep breath of, Oh crap I’ve got to start this over. You feel like you finished the marathon and now you’ve got to find the energy to start another race.
At some point I stopped going into resistance of those moments. About one-quarter of the stories I wrote during the '90s and early 2000s took real rewrites. You have to just drop the resistance to that and realize that what’s going to make this satisfying is to follow this thread where it takes you.
SI: Do you still have your original version?
SMITH: No, I’m sure I killed it and didn’t keep it around. It was a goner.
SI: What was your reaction to it?
SMITH: It’s probably not the strongest written one I ever did. I don’t think the opening to the story is the greatest or the best executed, but as it rolls along it gathers its force and by the end, when you see these people you never would have dreamed of doing such things – like adopting African-American kids – and this ripple from this very isolated stranger the circle just widening and widening and widening and the crevices that it reaches in human beings – when you see that finally have its full play there’s an emotional poignance that it gathers. In that regard it achieved its purpose.
SI: I’m surprised to hear you were less than thrilled with it, given how popular it was and how good it is.
SMITH: The writing is pretty good, but among the stories I’ve written I never look at this opening and think, Man this thing’s got me by the throat right away. I probably couldn’t put it into words right away. It’s not bad, it’s pretty good, but it’s not the most intriguing pull and invitation into a story executed at the highest level that I’ve done or could be done. Once it gets going, though, it stacks up with anything.
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This is the maintenance schedule with associated service intervals for the Kawasaki Vulcan 2000 motorcycles, released as the Vulcan 2000 Classic and the Vulcan 2000 LT. Both also go by the short product code VN2000.
The Kawasaki Vulcan is a cruiser style motorcycle. The Vulcan name has been used for custom or cruiser motorcycles since 1984, model designation VN, using mostly V-twin engines ranging from 125 to 2,053 cc.
The Kawasaki Vulcan 2000 Classic is powered by a 2053 cc (125 ci) 52-degree V-twin engine. It makes a frankly ridiculous 191 Nm (141 lb-ft) of torque at 3000 rpm, and commensurate power (but cruisers are all about torque!).
The Vulcan 2000 puts all that to the ground through a five-speed transmission and a belt drive — contrasting with the shaft drive of the Vulcan 1600. (The 1700 has a belt drive, too, as well as a six-speed transmission).
The Classic LT had an appearance similar to the Classic but added saddlebags, windshield, passenger floorboards, and passenger backrest to the offering.
This site has links from which we earn a commission (which unfortunately nobody can save, not even us). If you appreciate this research work, then please use those links. Thanks.
Service Intervals for the Kawasaki Vulcan 2000
The Kawasaki Vulcan 2000 has service intervals of 7500 miles or 12000 km or one year for most major items, including changing the oil and filter and doing a safety inspection of most items.
A small number of items should be checked more regularly, like the condition of the brakes and drive belt.
Because the Kawasaki Vulcan 2000 is liquid-cooled, make sure you change the coolant on schedule. Kawasaki recommends changing it every 3 years or 24000 miles / 36000 km, whichever comes earlier.
The spark plug replacement schedule is a wide 30000 miles / 48000 km. There’s no valve service interval as the Vulcan 2000 has self-adjusting valves.
Maintenance Schedule for Kawasaki Vulcan 2000
Below is the maintenance schedule for the Kawasaki Vulcan 2000 Classic.
The following is the list of maintenance operations and to be done on this motorcycle with a time or distance interval — whichever comes earlier.
We split the service into two sections
- Scheduled service — the overall service schedule
- An “Inspection checklist” to be done at every service.
- For higher odometer readings, repeat at the frequency interval established here.
- Follow the earlier of time-based or distance-based maintenance intervals
- The break-in schedule is not shown as this bike is not sold new.
Below are items to change or replace. Follow the earlier of the time-based or distance-based intervals.
|mi x 1000||4||7.5||12||15||20||24||30|
|km x 1000||6||12||18||24||30||36||48||Every|
|Conduct annual inspection checklist (see below)||✓||✓||✓||Year|
|Engine oil — Change||✓||✓||✓||Year|
|Oil filter — Change||✓||✓||✓||Year|
|Air filter — Change||✓||✓|
|Spark plugs — Inspect||✓||✓|
|Spark plugs — Replace||✓|
|Fuel hoses — Change||✓||4 years|
|Coolant — Change||✓||3 years|
|Radiator hoses and O-rings — Change||✓||3 years|
|Brake hoses — Change||✓||4 years|
|Brake fluid (front and rear) — change||✓||✓||2 years|
|Rubber parts of master cylinder and caliper — Change||✓||4 years|
|Steering stem bearings — Lubricate||✓||✓||2 years|
|Swing arm pivot – lubricate||✓||✓|
|Clutch operation (play, engagement, disengagement) – inspect||✓||✓||✓|
|Tire tread wear, abnormal wear – inspect||✓||✓||✓|
|Drive belt deflection – inspect||✓||✓||✓||✓||✓||✓||✓|
|Drive belt wear- inspect||✓||✓||✓||✓||✓||✓||✓|
|Brake pad wear – inspect||✓||✓||✓||✓||✓||✓||✓|
|Brake fluid level – inspect||✓||✓||✓||✓||✓||✓||✓||6 months|
|Evap emission system — inspect (if fitted)||✓||✓||✓|
Annual inspection checklist
Below is the full list of things to do at the annual inspection for the Kawasaki Vulcan 2000.
|Vulcan 2000 Annual Inspection Checklist|
|Throttle control system (play, smooth return, no drag) – inspect|
|Idle speed – inspect|
|Fuel leak (fuel hose and pipe) – inspect|
|Fuel hoses damage – inspect|
|Fuel hoses installation condition – inspect|
|Coolant level – inspect|
|Coolant system condition (leaks, cracks) – inspect|
|Radiator hose damage – inspect|
|Radiator hoses installation condition – inspect|
|Air suction system damage – inspect|
|Tire air pressure – inspect|
|Wheels/tires damage – inspect|
|Wheel bearings damage – inspect|
|Brake fluid leak – inspect|
|Brake hoses damage – inspect|
|Brake hose installation condition – inspect|
|Brake operation (effectiveness, play, drag) – inspect|
|Brake light switch operation – inspect|
|Front forks/rear shock absorber operation (damping and smooth stroke) – inspect|
|Front forks/rear shock absorber oil leak – inspect|
|Steering play – inspect|
|Lights and switches operation – inspect|
|Headlight aiming – inspect|
|Side stand switch operation – inspect|
|Engine stop switch operation – inspect|
|Chassis parts – lubricate|
|Bolts and nuts tightness – inspect|
Drive belt maintenance
Kawasaki recommends checking drive belt deflection and condition at every 3500 mile service. They say you should take it to a dealer to check.
However, it’s easy to check these, as described in the service manual.
- A jack to jack up the rear wheel
- A belt tension tool
- A ruler
- A new cotter pin
- Find the spot between the front and rear pulleys (it doesn’t have to be exact)
- Push down with 10 lb of force — equivalent to 45 N, or 4.5 kgf. Use a belt tension gauge, which is calibrated to do this.
- For a used belt, deflection should be 2.5-4mm (0.10-0.16 in.). For a new belt it should be at the tighter end of this.
- If the deflection is out of spec, adjust it.
To adjust the tension, you will need to do the following.
- Remove the muffler and the upper belt cover.
- Remove the axle cotter pin, and loosen the axle nut.
- Lift the rear wheel off the ground using a jack and jack attachment.
- Loosen the left and right belt adjuster locknuts. Turn them in evenly until the belt has the correct amount of deflection.
Keep the belt aligned. The notch on the left belt adjuster should align with the swingarm mark that the right belt adjuster aligns with.
- Tighten belt adjuster nuts firmly.
- Tighten the rear axle nut with a torque wrench — 80 ft-lb or 108 Nm.
- Insert a new cotter pin.
Tire size and tire pressure for the Kawasaki Vulcan 2000
The Kawasaki Vulcan 2000 has the following tire sizes and pressures standard. It runs tubeless touring tires.
|Tyre||Size||Standard tire pressure|
|Front||150/80 R16 M/C 71V||250 kPa / 36 psi|
|Rear||200/60 R16 M/C 79V||290 kPa / 42 psi|
About the Kawasaki Vulcan 2000
The Vulcan 2000 is a strong, stylish motorcycle. It handles well for its weight, but it’s also very heavy, so expectations can’t be that high.
The enormous 2053cc engine was at the time the largest capacity V-twin engine manufactured by a major manufacturer. To this day, it’s still one of the largest. With a massive peak of 191 Nm or 141 lb-ft of torque, the Vulcan 2000 has more torque than nearly any other motorcycle, and more than many small cars.
But despite having what seems like a ridiculous amount of pull, the Vulcan 2000 is tame and easily controlled. It won’t buck you off, or do uncontrollable burnouts.
Like many big cruisers, the Kawasaki Vulcan 2000 pulls off easily from idle, but then just doesn’t stop — it keeps pulling and pulling the more you hold the throttle open. Accelerating in higher gears shows that it doesn’t matter what gear you’re in — it all feels the same.
There are a lot of detailed additions that make the Kawasaki Vulcan 2000 seems like more than the sum of its parts. It’s not just a big cruiser.
The VN2000 is stylish, first of all. It has a traditional-style headlight, a “buckhorn” handlebar bend, a plush passenger seat for increased comfort, and several smaller details that all add to the high level of refinement. It’s comfortable, and almost… dare we say it… practical.
The Vulcan 2000 massive V-Twin cylinders have a black matte finish that contrast nicely with the cooling fins. It’s a traditional push-rod engine which means that the engine is a little lower, keeping the centre of gravity low, making the heavy bike easier to control.
The fuel injection is quite advanced, given that it has a classic cruiser. The Kawasaki Vulcan 2000 has sub-throttle valves and fine atomizing injectors, which help the Vulcan 2000 give a linear powerband and optimised fuel economy.
Front brakes are via twin 300 mm discs and four-piston calipers. The final drive is via a five-speed transmission and a belt — reliable, quiet, and low-maintenance.
It’s worth mentioning that the Vulcan 2000 doesn’t need valve service — it has self-adjusting hydraulic lifters.
Reference — Screenshots from the Manual for the Kawasaki Vulcan 2000
The above maintenance schedule comes directly from the user’s manual for the Kawasaki Vulcan 2000 Classic, which is available at Kawasaki’s website here.
The maintenance schedule for the Vulcan 2000 is the same for all models and across model years as there were no changes other than in external bolt-on parts.
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Ten minutes after briefing and the swimmers were lined up on Lough Dan’s so-called beach for the group photo seen in the previous part.
Sometimes writing about the minutiae of swimming is really boring. Sometimes such reportage can mask some other truth. Sometimes I think that the more I try to explain the less I succeed.
Unlike a marathon swim that can take multiple hours, the Ice Mile swim was short enough to recall detail of each of the four 400 metre laps, especially for someone who is used to trying to capture sensations for writing. But an ultra-detailed analysis can often be to see the paint on the building rather than the architecture.
The entry and swim out to the start pontoon was fine. I can get into extremely cold water comfortably after years of winter swimming and the 3 degrees Celsius (37.4° F.) at the edge was better than wading through ice as we had the previous year. Entry is easier when there is no wind or rain and you are swimming with others.
I relaxed through the first two laps. Almost certainly too much in retrospect. I was much slower than normal for the first 800 metres.
At the start of the third lap, I allocated part of my awareness as a monitor. Its only job was to check myself, my perceptions and reactions for as long as was possible. Cold slows and thickens the blood, cognition becomes impaired but the hypothermic person doesn’t realise this. Those movies where a hypothermic person clearly realises they must get moving or they will freeze are mostly nonsense.
By the third lap I had developed extreme pain in my hands and feet. Please remember I am used to really cold water, and I don’t describe that pain lightly as extreme. I began to get nervous about one of the lesser-known possible side effects of extreme cold water swimming, that of nerve damage to fingers (not frostbite). So I started clenching my fists and fingers hard during stroke recovery. I also put the pain away, walled it off. It was severe, but I’m a distance swimmer so it wasn’t relevant and I ignored it.
That penultimate lap hurt. So much.
Finbarr passed me. Everyone else had already moved in front of me though I’d been first to swim away from the beach. (I had swum to the pontoon to start, which wasn’t necessary, but I had wanted to so do). On the third lap I had reached the 75% distance that mirrored my 75% pre-swim confidence. I touched the buoy on the pontoon for the seventh time and started the last lap. I never took any notice of Eoin Gaffney on the pontoon or the kayakers or the RIB crew for the entire swim, except for the occasional taste of diesel in the water.
I was cold, then colder. Into hypothermia. As you know, cold is a word that holds no meaning in this situation, but I don’t have a better one. Unless you are cold water swimmer you have no idea what I mean, you just think your experience of an ordinary cold winter day is analagous.
There was pain, present but also distant because I disregarding it. Still swimming. Still focused. Hands quite extraordinarily not in The Claw. Still slow. I tried increasing my stroke rate. I couldn’t hold it for long.
Going down the seventh leg in the last 400 metres, the Black Rain developed.
The Black Rain. I have not heard any other cold water swimmer describe this. I have suffered it once previously. Spots before the eyes is a poor descriptor. It is more like a shifting rain, starting very light, almost imperceptible. Varying sizes, speed and seeming distances in front of me. Just like rain, except its colour.
I touched the far buoy for the last time. 200 metres to go. Then the swim in. Okay, just the 200 metres to worry about. I knew I would make it.
The RIB was near. There was a kayaker beside me. I could not tell what or if they might have been saying. I didn’t really focus on them, and didn’t think to try. I didn’t think of anything beyond monitoring myself. Swim in. That was all. That was everything. The Black Rain was heavier and I was developing tunnel vision. Not a metaphor, but actual vignetting of my sight. The boats were near but felt far away, not really having anything to do with me, on the far side of a veil. Head for the beach.
Cold blood. Cold enuf blood becomes viscus blood. Viscous. Swim. Thick blood. Thick blood flowz slowly. swim. coLd blub blood Passes oxigen 2 ur brain slowli. always swim. keep swim. Your thinking. ur Thinking gets slowly. never stop swimin. never stop, never stop. never stop cccold. izh beach. shallow. stand. colm’s son. Mr Awesome. OUt. Dee. gEt Drest.
I didn’t need to touch the pontoon at the end of the 1600 metres. Since the beach was further away I had de facto completed the distance. Warren Roche and Tom Healy helped me once got into shallow water and stumbled semi-upright.
The last two legs of the swim had taken both zero time and infinity. Time travel jokes become inessential when time itself ceases to have meaning. Cold is the universe’s ultimate time machine encased in the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Time, like my trap, is a mental construct of swimmers. Time is a beast, or a wall, something huge, not the little parasites of seconds and minutes. If we are close enough we can’t see it all and it either slips away or fills our sight and becomes meaningless.
Immediately afterwards the freight train of Afterdrop took me harder than it ever has previously. Many people helped me as I was virtually unable to dress myself, but especially Tom Healy. I was almost unresponsive. My memory of the fifteen or twenty minutes post swim is hazy at best.
I’ve had mild hypothermia more times than I can recall, like most cold water swimmers. We don’t call it hypothermia of course, we just say chills and shivers. It sounds safer, doesn’t scare others. I have been in serious hypothermia (by my scale of experience) twice before. I’ve had memory loss. Loss of motor control. Inability to speak, to walk, to drive. So I can with confidence say that this was the worst hypothermia experience I’ve yet endured.
I am thankful specifically for the help of Mr Awesome Tom and his partner Rachel, Nicola Gilliland, Alan Smith, Colm Breathnach’s friend Warren Roche whom I thought was Colm’s son. (Should I apologise to Colm or Warren or both?)
And of course my regular accomplice Dee, who didn’t panic either and is still making fun of what she describes as the manic rictus of my face post-swim. I think she’s mixing it up with my regular face.
For reference, you have seen me write many times that I am an average range speed swimmer. The Sandycove Island Challenge each autumn is a similar distance when including the extra Ice Mile start and finish portions, about 1750 metres when the water is flat.
My time for the 2013 Sandycove Island Challenge, which had similar flat conditions and was maybe 14°C. , and my best ever race lap, was 25:30. Course record is held by Irish International swimmer Chris Bryan at 19:40 or thereabouts. My time for the same distance Ice Mile was astonishingly over 37 minutes. That’s what cold can do to a really experienced cold water swimmer. For reference I am 171 centimeters tall and weighed 76 kilos for the swim and my resting heart rate the previous morning was 53.
I had stopped shivering and was recovered and was out and about for photographs in under an hour, thanks to heat, hot water bottles applied correctly, glucose, rubbing and all the techniques used on a hypothermic person. Core temperature took a while longer to recover, until about the time we were half way home, two and half to three hours after the swim.
Seven of the nine Ice Milers finished. Colm Breathnach and Donal Jacob pulled out at 1200 metres due to not feeling right during the swim. You should recall that Colm is already an Ice Miler and a faster and better cold water swimmer than I. Fergal says, and I agree, having done the same myself last year, that for a swimmer such as Colm to pull out during a swim displays self-knowledge, confidence and experience that others should take note of and emulate, and hopefully indicates to others just how seriously this swim should be approached. I have great respect for both swimmers for the decision they made on the day.
Did you think it might be different? More macho or inspirational?Something with less…pain?
I can’t do macho. Don’t know how. King of the Channel in the late 70’s, Des Renford used a phrase “Doing It Tough”. I did my Ice Mile tough. Frankly and honestly in my opinion this stuff is too dangerous to load macho bullshit onto it.
“Winning ugly” according to Dee. “Not pretty”, she also said, (though that may have been a general observation about me).
Getting it done. No need, no plan, to do it again, I swam out of the trap. I wish I could swim out of other traps.
The Ice Mile was awful, painful and horrible.
Cold is such an insufficient word.
Later after warming up my heart rate was elevated for a few hours. Two days later I developed muscles pain for 24 hours almost identical to what I experience after the first five or six-hour pool swim of winter similar to what Colm reported after his Ice Mile swim last year. It felt like lactic buildup aches in my triceps, lats, pecs, along with lower back and thighs. The aches over the kidneys lasted another two days. I had an unidentified bruise and swelling on one finger, when I rarely bruise even after impacts. Minor issues and otherwise I am perfectly fine.
Here at the end of Part III, I’m taking a temporary break from the subject before returning with reflections and thoughts on the wider context of Ice Mile swimming, with the challenges, dangers, frauds, difficulties and some recommendations.
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Moderate Cannabis Use Associated with Improved Treatment Response in Hepatitis C Patients on Methadone
By Liz Highleyman
Interferon-based therapy for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is often limited by side effects including flu-like symptoms, fatigue, insomnia, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle and joint pain, and depression, which can lead to poor adherence, dose reduction, or treatment discontinuation.
Medicinal cannabis may relieve such side effects and help patients stay on treatment, according to a study published in the October 2006 European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
Several studies – as well as ample anecdotal evidence – have demonstrated that medical marijuana can reduce nausea, increase appetite, and improve wasting in people with HIV.
Diana Sylvestre, MD, of the University of California at San Francisco and colleagues conducted a study to define the impact of cannabis use during HCV treatment. The prospective observational study included 71 patients at OASIS (Organization to Achieve Solutions in Substance Abuse), a community-based clinic providing medical and psychiatric treatment to substance users in Oakland, California.
Eligible participants were recovering substance users with HCV who had been on methadone maintenance therapy for at least 3 months. Patients with non-HCV-related liver disease or decompensated cirrhosis were excluded. Among the 30 patients with liver biopsy results, the mean Metavir inflammation grade was 2.4 and the mean fibrosis stage was 2.6. Subjects with untreated depression were first stabilized on antidepressants.
Use of cannabis during the study was “neither endorsed nor prohibited.” About one-third of participants used marijuana during hepatitis C treatment. “Regular” marijuana use was defined as every day or every other day for at least 4 weeks. Drug and alcohol use were assessed by self-report and random monthly urine testing.
22 patients (31%) reported cannabis use during ant-HCV treatment, while 49 (69%) did not.
Baseline characteristics were generally similar between marijuana users and non-users.
The median age was about 50 years in both groups.
Compared with non-users, cannabis users were somewhat more likely to be male (68% vs 57%) and Caucasian (86% vs 69%), but less likely to have genotype 1 HCV (48% vs 61%).
About 60% of participants reported a previous psychiatric diagnosis (usually depression); cannabis users and non-users had similar rates of psychiatric diagnosis and antidepressant use.
32% of cannabis users and 37% of non-users reported use of other illicit substances during HCV treatment (including heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine), while 14% and 24%, respectively, reported alcohol consumption; these differences were not statistically significant.
Participants were treated with conventional interferon alfa-2b (3 million units 3 times weekly) plus 1000-1200 mg daily ribavirin. Patients were initially treated for 48 weeks regardless of genotype, but the protocol was later amended to allow 24-week therapy for those with genotypes 2 or 3.
Adherence to therapy was assessed by self-report, ribavirin pill counts, and returned empty interferon vials. Participants were considered adherent if they took 80% or more of prescribed interferon and ribavirin for at least 80% of the projected treatment course.
In an intent-to-treat analysis, 37 patients (52%) achieved an end-of-treatment response (undetectable HCV RNA at the end of 24 or 48 weeks of therapy):
– 14 cannabis users (64%);
– 23 non-users (47%) (P = 0.21).
Overall, 21 out of 71 participants (30%) achieved sustained virological response (SVR), or continued undetectable HCV RNA 6 months after the end of therapy:
– 12 of 22 cannabis users (54%);
– 9 of 49 non-users (18%) (P = 0.009).
Post-treatment virological relapse rates were 14% for cannabis users and 61% for non-users (P = 0.009).
End-of-treatment response rates were similar among occasional cannabis users (10 of 16; 62%) and regular users (4 of 6; 67%).
10 of 16 occasional users (62%) went on to achieve SVR, compared with 2 of 6 regular users (33%), but the difference was not statistically significant.
Most patients (93%) reported at least one treatment-related side-effect, with similar rates among cannabis users and non-users.
Overall, 17 of 71 patients (24%) discontinued therapy early:
– 1 cannabis user (5%);
– 16 cannabis non-users (33%) (P = 0.01).
Overall, 48 patients were adherent (68%):
– 19 cannabis users (86%);
– 29 non-users (59%) (P = 0.03).
There was no significant difference in adherence between occasional and regular cannabis users (87% vs 83%)
91% of cannabis users took at least 80% of prescribed interferon, compared with 76% of non-users. For ribavirin, the corresponding rates were 91% and 84%; these differences were not statistically significant.
However, cannabis users were significantly more likely than non-users to remain on therapy for at least 80% of the projected treatment duration (95% vs 67%; P = 0.01).
The average duration of HCV treatment was 38 weeks for cannabis users, compared with 33 weeks for non-users.
In conclusion, the authors wrote, “Our results suggest that modest cannabis use may offer symptomatic and virological benefit to some patients undergoing HCV treatment by helping them maintain adherence to the challenging medication regimen.”
In their discussion, the authors wrote that their results “suggest that the use of cannabis during HCV treatment can improve adherence by increasing the duration of time that patients remain on therapy; this translates to reduced rates of post-treatment virological relapse and improved SVR.”
“Although other potential mechanisms may contribute to its enhancement of treatment outcomes, such as altered immunological function and improved nutritional status,” they added, “it appears that the moderate use of cannabis during HCV treatment does not lead to deleterious consequences.”
In this study, it appears that the treatment response benefit was primarily due to improved ability to stay on adequate doses of interferon and/or ribavirin. Sylvestre told HIV and Hepatitis.com that the researchers could not judge whether there was a direct antiviral effect. “It was probably more of a side-effect management effect than an antiviral effect, but we can’t rule out the latter,” she said.
There remain concerns about the safety of marijuana use by individuals with chronic hepatitis C. Cannabinoid receptors are present on immune cells, and use of the drug may suppress immune function. In addition, there is some evidence that frequent marijuana use may contribute to liver fibrosis. As reported in the July 2005 issue of Hepatology, French researchers found that HCV positive individuals who smoked cannabis daily were more likely to have severe fibrosis and were at higher risk for rapid fibrosis progression than those who used marijuana only occasionally or not at all. However, the participants in that study were not receiving treatment for hepatitis C.
Notably, in the current study, there was no direct dose-response relationship between the amount of cannabis consumed and the likelihood of sustained virological response. In fact, the patients who used the largest amounts of cannabis did not show as much benefit from hepatitis C therapy. The researchers did not perform pre- and post-treatment histological assessments using paired liver biopsies, and did not measure immune parameters.
“The lack of dose response in our study argues against specific receptor or metabolism-related effects, and suggests instead that cannabis exerted its benefit by non-specific improvements in symptom management,” the authors stated. “Interestingly, because the benefits of heavy cannabis use were less apparent, we cannot rule out the possibility that detrimental biological or immunological mechanisms may be relevant at higher levels of consumption. Obviously, further study is needed.”
Unfortunately, because cannabis is strictly controlled in the U.S. and the federal government considers the drug illegal even in states with medical marijuana laws, it is difficult to conduct randomized, controlled trials.
In an accompanying editorial, a group of hepatitis C experts from Canada and Germany noted that people who use illicit drugs are the main risk group for new hepatitis C infections, and “will form the largest HCV treatment population for years to come.”
While past treatment guidelines advised against hepatitis C treatment for active substance users and those with a recent history of active use, this categorical recommendation is no longer in effect in the U.S. and Europe, since recent studies have shown that such patients can achieve good treatment outcomes as long as they are able to maintain adequate adherence. Treatment remains a challenge for this population, however, in part because substance users have a higher prevalence of depression and other psychiatric conditions, which are associated with an increased likelihood of neuropsychological side effects during interferon therapy.
Sylvestre’s study, the editorial authors wrote, “suggests that cannabis use may benefit treatment retention and outcomes in illicit drug users undergoing HCV treatment” and that “there is substantial evidence that cannabis use may help address key challenges faced by drug users in HCV treatment.” Several recent studies have demonstrated the benefits of combining anti-HCV therapy with methadone maintenance, in effect offering “one-stop shopping.”
The authors suggested that the therapeutic effects of cannabis “may be of principal importance and benefit for the distinct needs of illicit drug users” on methadone maintenance, because methadone itself is associated with some of the same side effects as interferon (bone aches, loss of energy, depression).
“Overall, cannabis use may thus even offer dual benefits, in facilitating adherence to both methadone maintenance therapy and HCV treatment in the HCV-infected drug user, and thus contribute to public health benefits related to both these interventions,” they noted.
“While further research is required on the biological and clinical aspects of the benefits of cannabis use for HCV treatment, and the effectiveness of cannabis use for HCV treatment needs to be explored in larger study populations,” they concluded, “we advocate that in the interim existing barriers to cannabis use are removed for drug users undergoing HCV treatment until the conclusive empirical basis for evidence-based guidance is available.”
In particular, they suggested that medical marijuana laws and programs that specify its use for patients with specific conditions such as AIDS and cancer should also include people with hepatitis C.
D L Sylvestre, B J Clements, Y Malibu. Cannabis use improves retention and virological outcomes in patients treated for hepatitis C. European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology 18(10): 1057-1063. October 2006.
B Fischer, J Reimer, M Firestone, and others. Treatment for hepatitis C virus and cannabis use in illicit drug user patients: implications and questions. European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology 18(10): 1039-1042. October 2006.
C Hezode, F Roudot-Thoraval, S Nguyen, and others. Daily cannabis smoking as a risk factor for progression of fibrosis in chronic hepatitis C. Hepatology 42(1): 63-71. July 2005.
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2008 Year End Financial Results
March 31, 2009FIRST MAJESTIC SILVER CORP. (FR-T) (the “Company”) is pleased to announce the annual financial results for the Company’s year ended December 31, 2008. The full version of the financial statements can be viewed on the Company’s web site at www.firstmajestic.com or on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The following are highlights from the year end and fourth quarter. Shareholders or interested parties are encouraged to review the complete financial statements for further details.
|Gross Revenue for 2008||$56.1 million|
|Net Revenue for 2008||$44.3 million|
|Net Revenue for 4th Quarter||$9.1 million|
|Mine Operating Earnings for 2008||$7.5 million|
|Mine Operating Loss for 4th Quarter||$1.1 million|
|Operating Cash Flow for 2008 (before working capital changes)||$4.6 million|
|Total Equivalent Silver Production for 2008||4,229,998 ounces|
|Total Cash Costs per Silver Ounce for the year||US$5.87|
|Total Mining Costs per Tonne for the year||US$43.08|
|Cash in Treasury, currently||$32.2 million|
FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE AND HIGHLIGHTS
- Total annual production for 2008 increased by 18% to 4,229,998
ounces of silver equivalents, including 3,654,698 ounces of silver,
1,661 ounces of gold, 7,457,707 pounds of lead and 425,710 pounds of
zinc. This compares to the 3,584,265 ounces of silver equivalents
produced in 2007 consisting of 3,170,139 ounces of silver, 2,049 ounces
of gold and 2,924,146 pounds of lead.
- Gross revenue for 2008, prior to smelting charges, was $56.1
million compared to $45.8 million in 2007, an increase of 22.4%. In 2008
the Company shipped 3,590,202 ounces of silver equivalents at an
average price of $15.63 per ounce (US$14.66) compared to 3,461,560
ounces in 2007 at an average price of $13.24 (US$12.33).
- Due to low metal prices in the latter half of 2008, the Company
elected to carry 553,923 ounces of equivalent silver in inventory over
the year end from its annual production. The inventory at year end
consisted of 429,652 ounces in stockpiles, 101,755 ounces of finished
product and 22,516 ounces in process. These ounces are expected to be
sold throughout 2009.
- Sales revenue (after smelting, refining and transportation
charges) for the year ended December 31, 2008 was $44.3 million; an
increase of 3% compared to $42.9 million for the year ended December 31,
2007. Smelting, refining and transportation charges increased from
$2.9 million in 2007 to $11.8 million in 2008. A primary focus of the
Company in 2009 is to increase its scale of operations and to shift its
mix of production from concentrates toward Doré production to reduce its
smelting charges and increase net revenues. Average smelting and
transportation charges for Doré in 2008 were US$0.39 per equivalent
ounce whereas for concentrates were US$4.78 per equivalent ounce.
- Direct cash costs per ounce of silver for the year ended
December 31, 2008 decreased to US$5.87 per ounce of silver, compared to
US$7.06 per ounce of silver for the year ended December 31, 2007 and
US$6.37 per ounce of silver for the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to
US$7.97 per ounce of silver for the fourth quarter of 2007 due to higher
silver ounces produced in 2008.
- Effective December 1, 2008, smelting and refining charges were
reduced. In addition, in February 2009, the Company entered into two
new smelting agreements which further reduced smelting charges for Doré
and concentrate smelting which have positively impacted costs for 2009.
- At the La Encantada Silver Mine, construction began in June
2008 on the new US$21.6 million cyanidation plant which will have a
capacity of 3,500 tonnes per day (“tpd”) once completed. The plant is
scheduled to commence operations in July 2009. Once completed, the new
plant is anticipated to produce over four million ounces of silver
annually in the form of Doré bars.
- Reserve and Resource development was a high priority for the
Company in 2008, leading to substantial increases in Reserves and
Resources at all of its operating mines. On a consolidated basis,
Proven and Probable Reserves increased by 102% to 47.8 million
equivalent ounces of silver, compared to 23.7 million equivalent ounces
of silver at the end of 2007. Measured and Indicated Resources
increased by 9% to 92.3 million equivalent ounces of silver in 2008,
compared to 85.1 million equivalent ounces of silver at the end of 2007.
Inferred Resources increased by 113% to 158.8 million equivalent
ounces of silver in 2008, compared to 74.7 million equivalent ounces of
silver at the end of 2007.
- During 2008, the Company invested $30.1 million in capital
expenditures on its mineral properties, and a further $18.0 million on
additions to plant and equipment.
- Mine operating earnings for the year ended December 31, 2008
was $7.5 million, an increase of 7% compared to mine operating earnings
of $7.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2007.
- The Company reduced its operating loss for 2008 to $3.7
million, a 14% reduction compared to an operating loss of $4.3 million
for the year ended December 31, 2007.
- The Company incurred a net loss after taxes of $5.1 million for
the year ended December 31, 2008, compared to a net loss after taxes of
$7.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2007. The net loss after
taxes for this year was after deducting a non-cash stock-based
compensation expense of $3.7 million (2007 - $3.9 million) and recording
a recovery for future income taxes of $2.1 million.
- Subsequent to December 31, 2008, the Company completed a public
offering with a syndicate of underwriters who purchased 8,487,576 units
at an issue price of $2.50 per unit for gross proceeds to the Company
of $21,218,940. The Company plans to use $15.5 million of the net
proceeds of the offering for mill construction and mine improvements at
the La Encantada Silver Mine, including the completion of the 3,500
tonne-per-day cyanidation plant, and the remainder for general working
- On February 25, 2009, the Mexican Environmental Authority
PROFEPA (Procuradoria Federal Proteccion al Ambiente) awarded a CLEAN
INDUSTRY CERTIFICATE to one of the Company’s wholly owned subsidiaries,
First Majestic Plata, SA de CV, regarding its activities at the La
Parrilla Silver Mine (La Parrilla). This Certificate is a significant
milestone for the Company and was achieved after twenty nine months of
Voluntary Environmental Audit work, which demonstrates the Company’s
sustained focus in complying with international and Mexican mining
- On March 12, 2009, the Centro Mexicano para la Filantropia (CEMEFI) awarded First Majestic the Socially Responsible Business Distinction for 2008 (Distintivo Empressa Socialmente Responsable 2008). This marks the first time that First Majestic has achieved this annual award of distinction. This award is a significant milestone for the Company and was accomplished after having demonstrated responsibility, transparency and sustainability within its operations and projects in Mexico.
|PRODUCTION DATA||La Encantada||La Parrilla||San Martin||Consolidated|
|Silver head grades (grams/tonne)||212||250||150||205|
|Silver equivalent ounces (1)||2,668,627||1,769,154||1,266,625||5,704,406|
|Production costs per ounce (US$)||4.71||6.83||9.10||6.40|
|Smelting/refining per ounce (US$)||1.38||1.23||0.28||1.09|
|Transport and marketing per ounce (US$)||0.17||0.18||0.16||0.17|
|Production costs per tonne (US$)||21.72||39.79||35.10||28.84|
Silver production is expected to increase in mid 2009 when the La Encantada plant expansion is completed and plant capacity has been increased from the current 1,000 tpd to 3,500 tpd. The Company expects to gradually bring the new cyanidation plant into production beginning with production of 1,000 tpd in July, 2,000 tpd in August, 3,000 tpd in September, and achieving full capacity in October. Capital expenditures at the La Encantada mine are expected to amount to US$21.6 million upon completion.
Smelting and refining charges are expected to decrease in 2009 due to new refining and smelting agreements entered into in February 2009 for Doré and concentrate production. With the shift in production at the La Encantada mine from concentrate to Doré, the global mix of Doré and concentrate production will increase from the current 49% to 92% Doré production by the fourth quarter of 2009.
Sales of coins, ingots and bullion will increase in the year from 5% of production in Q1/09, to approximately 10% by the end of Q2/09 and will remain at that level for the balance of 2009. These sales result in approximately a 10% increase in selling price over normal quoted selling prices in any quarter. Additional information on the Company’s silver coins, ingots and bullion, including how to place an order, may be found on the Company’s website at www.firstmajestic.com.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION contact [email protected], visit our website at www.firstmajestic.com or call our toll free number 1.866.529.2807.
FIRST MAJESTIC SILVER CORP.
Keith Neumeyer, President & CEO
This press release includes certain “Forward-Looking Statements” within the meaning of section 21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, including without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization and reserves, exploration results and future plans and objectives of First Majestic Silver Corp. are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.
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Nick Clarke's African Adventures - Part 1
Earlier this spring, Nick Clarke spent a few months in South Africa riding bikes, filming his Welcome to The Rise video and helping out Matt Macduff with his Loop of Doop Project. As he signed up for this trip, little did he know that he was on board for the craziest journey of his life. His adventure was so inspiring that he had to put it down in words to share it with the world. Read the first part below, and stay tuned for the rest of his story!
Words by Nick Clarke
Photos by Thomas Sandell, Eric Palmer, Julien Grimard
When the idea first came up about going to Africa, I was walking into Joyride 150 when I crossed paths my friend Matt Macduff. He was in the back room building up a new The Rise Partymaster fresh after recovering from a wrist injury, preparing for the big trip. I had just finished building up a new dental office with my Dad, and we had an opening for a few weeks between jobs, so I was stoked to have some time to ride. I hardly get to ride with Matt because I am either working steady on an office, or he is out of town, so when we do it usually gets out of hand! After catching up for a while I made a joke, “I finally have some time off to ride with my homie, and he’s leaving for a couple months to Africa. The timing is always off!” Matt turns around and says, well hey why don’t you come and hang out with me down in ZA for a while? Without hesitation I started looking for the cheapest flight I could afford, and started planning what turned out to be the most intense and freestyle trip of my life!
I’ve been a huge fan of the South African dirt jump scene for years and was super stoked to bring my bike along for the adventure. Eric Palmer’s photos have popped up on my computer screen for years scrolling through pink bike, and the spots never seemed to disappoint. It seemed to be another world with rad dirt jumps, epic sunsets and nothing but style. I never would have thought that later on in my career I would be traveling to ride these same jumps where those photos were taken, let alone get the chance to work with the man himself. I’ve been familiar with The Night Harvest for a few years through articles on The Rise and Pink Bike, and I knew Matt and the PD crew were going to be involved, so I hit him up about getting in. A few days later I get a notification from one of the main builders, Justin Novela. It was an invite to one of the raddest dirt jump contests on the planet! I already knew this wasn’t going to be an ordinary trip, but the closer it came to leaving, the more it would become a life changing experience. Those two weeks felt like a year…
After a long 36 hours worth of traveling I arrived in Cape Town. Right off the plane I had this strange feeling about the country I now stood. It felt as though I never went anywhere, like I wasn’t on a trip. It didn’t really kick in that I was really in Africa until about 3 weeks into the trip. I was mesmerized! Mountains, picturesque coastlines, wild looking trees and wildlife everywhere, and some of the friendliest people I have ever met. After fighting with the airport wifi for a couple hours, I was greeted at the airport by Tumi Mothei. It wasn’t too hard to find Tumi parked outside in the Monster Energy van. Huge decals across a black cargo van and a stoked dude in the driver’s seat! It was a weird transition sitting in the left seat with no steering wheel, not to mention being on the other side of the road. What was crazier was that people overtake on the shoulder with oncoming traffic there and it’s gnarly! After a quick little tour and short history lesson of the city while stuck in traffic, we found ourselves in the centre of town where I met up with the man in charge Ryan Franklin, and my roommate for the night, Catfish! This was already starting out to be an insane trip. Catfish is a wild dude to travel with, let alone be in Africa with him for the first time. I’ve known him for a few years so I was super stoked to start the trip off on a high note knowing someone in town that’s been there previously.
The next day Ryan picked us up in the Dodge and drove the two of us into Hout Bay to check out the set up. It was an epic drive along the coast through camps Bay to the site of the Night Harvest. Anyone who has been here will tell you that Johnty’s place is simply magical! Some of the most perfectly sculpted dirt jumps in the world, epic sunsets, and a backdrop to die for. I couldn’t stop looking in circles at the beauty that surrounded me. The drive alone was out of this world, but throw jumps into the mix and its paradise to any rider. You truly need to see it to believe it.Ryan set us up at this fancy place called the Riverside estate down the road from the event. This place was rad! We all had our own set up, a few pools, and a huge gazebo where the crew hung out nightly and shared a few beers. Just getting to hang out with legends like Kevin Peraza, Greg Illingworth, Andreu, Sam Reynolds, and the rest of the pure darkness crew is one thing, let alone riding along side them at the legendary Potato trails! This was a dream come true. On the night of the finals I was feeling awesome! Surrounded by positive energy and new faces, I was ready to showcase everything I had been working on over the last few months at Joyride 150. The weather was perfect, the crowd was loud, and the atmosphere was incredible! I’ve been to many events in my lifetime, but none of them had the same feel to it that the NH had. There’s something about a night time contest that stands out from the rest. It might have something to do with the VIP bar set up, and the trails braii that got the crowd extra wild, but riding under lights just makes things that much more appetizing. Everyone was riding incredible and the trails were running pristine which made for a neck and neck contest! Between high fives with the fans I rode my hardest and threw down all that I could for the SA crowd. It was a close contest! Sam Reynolds was riding with a wrist injury from a crash just days before the contest, but it didn’t seem to slow him down! With his consistent runs and big tricks I thought for sure the contest was his. I was stoked on how I rode and that was enough for me! I got to ride in an epic contest with riders I grew up idoizing, and proved that I could ride as well. Prepared to walk away with a respectable third place finish, I was pleasantly surprised when I heard Matt’s name called up in 3rd, followed by Sam in 2nd. I knew at that point I had won my first international contest and I couldn’t believe it! Its one thing to be sprayed with champagne after winning an event, but its another when the people spraying you with it are the gorgeous Monster Energy girls! I was a happy man let me tell you! After getting the party out of my system for a couple days in Cape Town, we dropped the PD crew off at the airport and started making our way to the Garden Route Trail Park. Thanks to Ryan’s help, we picked up a small rental Renault Clio and stuffed everything we could into the limited space we had. This thing was small but it did the trick! On the drive to Knysna we nick named it the red eagle as it soared down the left side of the African highways. We left pretty late, so when we arrived to the farm it was dark and vision was limited. Before going to sleep at Robs for the night, Matt took us up to the Pure Darkness course up the dirt road. Marshall and I couldn’t stop laughing when we saw the set up the boys made for the 3rd PD in the moonlight. It was unlike anything we had ever seen before and it was so insane that you couldn’t help but laugh at how huge the silhouettes of the beasts were! Those dudes moved a lot of dirt to make that video happen, and that set up is not for the faint of heart. We had a few days before Julien and Louis joined us, so Matt and I went to work on the beasts. After a few days of digging in the heat and piercing sun to get the line dialed in, the boys made it in from Canada, and we were ready to shred! Besides the size of the roll in and massive jumps, one of the gnarliest things about these jumps is the fact you need to be on the roll in by 6 am sharp to ride them. With the jumps being in an open field up in the mountains, it was the only time the wind would be calm enough to ride the set up. One big gust and you’re toast! It’s difficult to be awake that early in the morning, let alone be awake enough to drop into the biggest line of jumps in the world on a hard tail.
After getting some coaching and motivation from Matt while feeling out the smaller roll in, it was time to face the great white shark fin. This thing has got some sharp teeth and its bite is no joke. I rode slightly under the ride line and took off the top corner spitting me out far to the left of the landing….front wheel first.
After cart wheeling across the grass I stood up, gave the boys the rock and roll and looked at the taco the shark now made my front wheel. I was in one piece and my wheel was all that was damaged in the crash. Luckily enough I was smart enough to bring a spare 36 hole Mavic 729 with me on the trip. It’s hard enough to find this style of rim in Canada let alone in Knysna, South Africa. I got in contact with Tyrone from Bespoked bike shop, and he hooked me up with a build to keep me going a few days later! Unfortunately this would be the only time we would get to ride these jumps! After heavy rain came through and washed away the jumps, we were simply too busy with the loop to get them running again. Something’s gotta bring you back.
After we were joined by the boys, Rob set us up in one of his rental houses on the property named The Backwoods Cottage. After buying a set of speakers from a local shop in Sedgefield and making some personal changes to the layout, we dubbed it the super loop house! The house was awesome! Two double bed rooms, a shower, bath, a large open yard overlooking the loop site in the background, and a fire pit where Julien cooked up “Spalta’s Famous chicken” almost nightly. Marshall was the only one daring enough to take a bath in the house though. You can ask why... With the heavy rain coming down a couple days a week, we bounced back and forth between the fire pit at the front of the house, and a secondary location under an awning beside the garage to cook. Man’s gotta eat. The front yard was also common to have a couple hundred cows hanging out on the lawn from time to time. I swear Rob made his guys move the cows to the front yard whenever he was upset with us about something to get even with us. There were multiple land mines you had to avoid getting to the vehicles all the time.
Stay tuned for Part 2 coming up in a few days!
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One of my very first guitar heroes is Jimmy Page, before I discovered the Allman Brothers, Pink Floyd, and Black Sabbath. Led Zeppelin was his idea, his vision. He wrote a lot of the music, and produced all the records. Not only did he play great songs but he also looked the part of a guitar player - the long hair, the dragon-decorated stage clothes, the Les Paul slung low down by his knees. How could he play a guitar like that? It matters not because I like the sounds he got from his Les Paul. Zeppelin's music exerted a significant influence. Their music made Ritchie Blackmore want to play riff based rock in Deep Purple. Why do I like Jimmy Page?
Light & Shade - The first time I ever heard of this in a musical context was about Jimmy Page. When asked to define "light & shade," JP said this - "Dynamics...whisper to thunder, sounds that invite you in and intoxicate." Some guitarists have it. Most of them don't. . Jimmy Page has it. Tony Iommi has it. David Gilmour has it. Alex Lifeson has it. For many guitarists who play hard rock or heavy metal, it's mostly all thunder and no whisper. Those who don't have it - think Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Kirk Hammett. Neil Young, as much as I like the guy, has the thunder and the whisper, but in his music it's either all thunder or all whisper.
The "CIA Connection." CIA = Celtic, Indian, Arabic. JP's interest in Celtic-based folk music manifests itself on Led Zeppelin III. His desire to play Indian- and Arab-flavored music began when he was still in the Yardbirds. His affinity for the blues is scattered all over his catalog. In order to play the sounds he was hearing in his head, the standard EADGBE tuning would not suffice. JP utilized several different tunings to make the songs work:
Gallow's Pole - Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb
Friends/Bron-Yr-Aur - CGCGCE
Bron Yr Aur Stomp - CFCFAF
That's the Way - DGDGBD
Hats Off to (Roy) Harper - CGCEGC
Poor Tom - CGCGCE
Kashmir/Black Mountain Side/White Summer - DADGAD
The Rain Song - DGCGCD
Going To California - DADGBD [double drop-D]
In My Time of Dying - EAEAC#E
Dancing Days - DBGDGE
When the Levee Breaks - F Bb Eb G# C F
He’s “sloppy.” Critics have complained that Jimmy Page’s playing is “sloppy.” My thought is this – “So? What is your point?” There are two players whom I like that are very precise at what they do – David Gilmour and Ritchie Blackmore. But for the most part, precise players, the likes of Yngve Malmsteen, Joe Satriani, and Steve Vai, they bore the hell out of me. Give me “sloppy” players like Jimmy Page anytime.
Brad Tolinski recently published a compilation of of interviews he did with Jimmy Page and other people about his music. In this book is a list of "Jimmy Page's Top 10 Guitar Moments." I have my list as well, but I didn't restrict it to just ten great moments. That kind of thing is very subjective, so instead of a "best of," I listed "favorites."
Heartbreaker [Led Zeppelin II] – This song kicked off Side 2, and was about as heavy as Zeppelin got. The guitar and bass are both playing the riff, which accounts for the heaviness of the song. Some of Page’s best soloing can be found here.
Immigrant Song [Led Zeppelin III] - Like Heartbreaker, John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page play the Immigrant Song riff in unison. For me the hook is the power chord at the end of the riff. It just sounds very cool.
Stairway to Heaven [Untitled] – This one is painfully obvious. Several different guitars are layered here. There’s the famous acoustic intro, and then JP introduces the Fender electric twelve-string at 2:15. From that point until 5:36 [your stairway lies on the whispering wind…], you hear the acoustic in the left stereo channel and the electric twelve-string in the right channel. Then you hear the electric twelve-string in both channels, until what is probably JP’s best solo ever starts at 5:56. JP played the solo on his "dragon" Fender Telecaster. What you hear after the solo was played on JP's Number 1 1959 Les Paul.
No Quarter [Houses of the Holy] – This song is John Paul Jones’ showcase, but I’ve always liked JP’s guitar parts. One gets to hear more of JP on the version from The Song Remains the Same soundtrack.
How Many More Times [Led Zeppelin] – Dazed and Confused got all the attention for the violin bow, but it’s here too, and this one is a better song. JP gives the wah-wah pedal a fairly heavy workout. There’s a “Bolero” section [3:11 – 3:35] like “Beck’s Bolero.” Right after the Bolero section starts the violin bow stuff [3:39 – 5:30].
Black Dog [Untitled] – This was John Paul Jones’ riff, but JP’s guitar is snarling. I don’t know how many rhythm tracks he recorded, but there are a lot of them. It is a massive sound. The ending solo sounds likes it’s being played through a Leslie speaker.
Since I’ve Been Loving You [Led Zeppelin III] – This is probably Led Zeppelin's best blues. Apparently JP's solo was improvised and recorded in one take.
Baby, I’m Gonna Leave You [Led Zeppelin] – Here is proof that a song need not be electric in order to be considered “heavy.”
The whole second side of Led Zeppelin III, and one that got away - Despite Gallow's Pole being an acoustic song (complete with JP playing the banjo), it rocks pretty hard. As hard as Heartbreaker was on the second album, Tangerine and That's the Way are delicate. As a bonus, you can hear JP playing the pedal steel guitar for coloring. The "one that got away" was Hey Hey, What Can I Do. It fits right at home with the rest of Led Zeppelin III. Friends is on side one, kind of lost among the electric songs. I like it very much, most especially when he re-did it with the Egyptian musicians on No Quarter: Unledded.
Kashmir, In My Time of Dying, Sick Again, The Wanton Song, Bron Yr Aur, Ten Years Gone, Custard Pie, The Rover [Physical Graffiti] - Rather than repeat myself, see my comments on these songs from my blog on the Physical Graffiti album here: http://tonysmusicroom.blogspot.com/2012/07/led-zeppelin-physical-graffiti.html?m=0
Achilles Last Stand [Presence] – This one from Presence has got to be Jimmy Page’s guitar tour de force. Layers upon layers of guitar overdubs were recorded for Achilles. I have no idea how he could play the song live, but somehow he managed.
Tea For One [Presence] - This is a slow blues that is like Since I've Been Loving You. The solos reflect the isolation and desolation in Robert Plant's lyrics.
In the Evening [In Through the Out Door] - Many folks have slammed In Through the Out Door as being too much of a keyboard-driven album, especially since it came after a guitar heavy album [Presence]. But there are some magical guitar moments here if you want to look for them. In the Evening is mostly John Paul Jones' song, but [and there's always a "but"...], JP throws his own spin on things to great effect. The very beginning sounds like JP using his violin bow on his guitar to produce some eerie, trippy effect, but I understand he used something called a Gizmotron to make the effect instead. JP plays along with JPJ's synth riff, but 3:42 kicks the door down with a manic, tremendous solo. At 4:25 he slows things way down and heads in a bluesy direction, all the while playing a slow arppegio thing underneath until the main riff kicks in again at 4:56.
Hot Dog [In through the out Door] - JP plays rockabilly! Enough said...
I'm Gonna Crawl [In Through the Out Door] - Zeppelin takes one more stab at the blues, and they get it right. This is no doubt one of the most emotional songs they ever did, and JP plays a fantastic solo [2:41 - 3:50] to match Robert Plant's turmoil.
Wearing and Tearing [Coda] – This is the very last song on the posthumous release Coda. Apparently there were plans to put out an EP with three songs recorded during the In Through the Out Door sessions. Wearing and Tearing was one of those three songs, but the EP never came out. JP’s most savage riffing is here. I think he wanted to prove something to the punks in the UK.
The elephant in the room whenever one talks about Led Zeppelin’s music is plagiarism. JP once told an interviewer that the reason they got sued by old blues guys was because Robert Plant pinched the lyrics. He said the music was totally original. Rather than give a laundry list of all the blues songs that had the music totally revamped but kept the words from the originals, here are some examples where the music was “appropiated.” A guy posted a bunch of clips under the name Clashboy1977. The man definitely did his homework, and I thank him for it wherever he is.
People’s Exhibit One: The Lemon Song [Led Zeppelin II]. JP breaks out Howlin’ Wolf’s Killing Floor riff at 1:28, and once again at 5:37. Howlin' Wolf now gets credit along with the band.
People’s Exhibit Two: Dazed and Confused [Led Zeppelin] sounds too much like Jake Holmes’ Dazed and Confused. Jake Holmes played on the same bill with the Yardbirds in a 1967 show in New York where JP heard the song. The lyrics are different, but the riff from the Zeppelin song is the same as that in Holmes’ song. Holmes finally sued JP in 2010 – they settled out of court in 2012.
People’s Exhibit Three: Black Mountain Side [Led Zeppelin] sounds like it was pinched from Bert Jansch’s Blackwaterside that was recorded in 1965.
People’s Exhibit Four: Bobby Walker’s Watch Your Step provides the riff for Moby Dick.
People’s Exhibit Five: Sonny Boy Williamson’s Bring It On Home sounds almost exactly like Led Zeppelin’s song of the same name. Willie Dixon took them to court and won.
"The good artists borrow, the great artists steal." This quote has been attributed to both Pablo Picasso and T.S. Eliot. I've heard other guitarists and a few songwriters [ahem...Bob Dylan, John Lennon] "take liberties" with other peoples' work, but Jimmy Page got caught. This baffles me because for the most part he's very original and inventive guitarist and composer. This doesn't negate his abilities as a guitarist -he executed the guitar parts extremely well - they just weren't his as he claimed them to be. Most of the songs of which Led Zeppelin were accused of stealing, such as In My Time of Dying and Nobody’s Fault But Mine, were cases where the lyrics were pinched, sometimes word for word, from the original source.
Ever since John Bonham died and Led Zeppelin disbanded, Jimmy Page's musical output has slowed quite a bit. He put out eight studio albums in twelve years with Led Zeppelin. In the thirty-one years since Led Zeppelin's demise, there has been a movie soundtrack [Death Wish II], two albums with Paul Rodgers [The Firm, Mean Business], one album with David Coverdale [Coverdale/Page], two with Robert Plant [No Quarter: Unledded, Walking Into Clarksdale], and a live album with the Black Crowes. All of these works have their moments, but not like what he produced with Led Zeppelin. Perhaps as he approaches 70, there's nothing left for Jimmy Page to do except to keep alive the flame of Led Zeppelin. That's still a pretty big legacy, one that I will continue to enjoy.
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Synyster Gates in Pittsburgh, PA.
|Birth name||Brian Elwin Haner, Jr.|
|Also known as||Synyster Gates|
|Born||July 7, 1981 (1981-07-07) |
Huntington Beach, California, United States
|Genres||Progressive metal, progressive rock, heavy metal, hard rock, thrash metal, metalcore, avant-garde metal|
|Occupations||Musician, songwriter, guitarist, vocalist|
|Instruments||Guitar, piano, vocals|
|Labels||Good Life Recordings, Hopeless, Warner Bros.|
|Associated acts||Avenged Sevenfold, Pinkly Smooth, Good Charlotte, Burn Halo, Bleeding Through, Dream Theater|
|Schecter Synyster Custom|
Brian Elwin Haner, Jr. (July 7, 1981), better known by his stage name Synyster Gates or simply Syn or "Gates", is an American musician. He is the lead guitarist for the American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold. Guitar World magazine has ranked him one of the fastest guitar players of all-time.
Brian went to Mayfair High School in Lakewood, California and also Fountain Valley High School in Fountain Valley, California.
He graduated from the Musicians Institute in Hollywood as part of the GIT program, studying jazz guitar. Up until that time he was primarily self taught by watching music videos and reading books, which is his father was/is a songwriter and guitar player, having played with Frank Zappa during his career, and currently touring with ventriloquist/comedian Jeff Dunham under the stage name "Guitar Guy". After six or so months of being there, he got a phone call from The Rev (and the rest of the previous line up of Avenged Sevenfold barre Johnny Christ) asking him if he wanted to join the band as lead guitarist. Brian joined up with them rather than continuing his education and becoming a studio musician.
Brian joined Avenged Sevenfold when he was 18 at the end of 1999, right before the recording of the band's first album, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet. He was featured on their EP, "Warmness on the Soul", and on the reissue of their first album.
In the Avenged Sevenfold DVD All Excess, to emphasize the seemingly random placing of names, Brian stated that his name was thought of on a drunken drive through the park with The Rev. Also, his band members claim that he originally thought that he was too good to play for the band. He corrects them by saying he said no such thing.
He has won numerous awards, including the "Young Shredder" award of the year in the Metal Hammer awards in 2006 and the "Guitarist of the Year" Award for Total Guitar Magazine in 2006.
Brian along with the Avenged Sevenfold’s late drummer The Rev played in an avant-garde metal band named Pinkly Smooth. Formed in the summer of 2001 in Huntington Beach, California the band also features ex-Ballistico members: Buck Silverspur (under the name El Diablo) on bass and D-Rock (under the name Super Loop) on drums.
Since then, the band has released only one album, Unfortunate Snort on Bucktan Records, which features a crossover sound of mostly punk, ska and avant-garde. Former Avenged Sevenfold bassist Justin Meacham was also featured on keyboards and piano on the album.
Although the band has been on hiatus ever since the release of the album and had never reunited since then, members have hinted on possible works of the band in the future; this is however unlikely to happen due to The Rev's death on December 28, 2009.
Featured guest appearances
- Bleeding Through's "Savior, Saint, Salvation," track
- Good Charlotte's "The River" music video
- Burn Halo's "Dirty Little Girl" music video
- Burn Halo's "Anejo" track
- He and his father, Brian Haner Sr., recently wrote and recorded the theme song to The Jeff Dunham Show
His father, Brian Haner, Sr., is a musician and comedian known as "Guitar Guy" or "Papa Gates" and is currently on tour with Jeff Dunham. He has a younger brother, Brent, a halfsister named Mckenna and a step brother named Johnny. His mother is Jan Gera. His step mother is Suzy Haner, Brian Haner's current wife. Synyster Gates recently split with long time on again, off again, girlfriend, Michelle Dibenedetto.
Brian cites Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Pantera, The Ramones, Misfits, Beastie Boys and NOFX as his major influences. Syn's favorite bands also include Metallica, Misfits and Anthrax. The guitarists that he idolizes are Kirk Hammet, Slash, Tom Morello, Jimmy Page, Joe Satriani, John Petrucci, Kerry King, and Dimebag Darrell.
Brian endorses Schecter Guitars, as does Zacky Vengeance. Currently, his signature model is available in two different versions. The "Schecter Synyster Custom" which has the exact specifications of the guitar that he plays live (excluding the sustainiac pick-up fitted models) and the more affordable "Schecter Synyster Standard" which offers lower quality pickups, a different neck joint, a different fretboard wood and tremolo system. Before the production of his signature model, he played guitars of various brands.
Here is a list of some of the guitars he used before the production of his signature model:
- Ibanez S Series - As seen in an early performance by the band on the "All Excess" video.
- Parker Fly - As seen on Warped Tour 2004
- Gibson Les Paul - As seen in the "Unholy Confessions" music video
- Schecter Hellraiser Avenger - As seen in the "Bat Country" music video
- Schecter PT Blackjack - As seen on Warped Tour 2004
- Schecter Banshee - As seen in the Bat Country instructional video
- Schecter C1-FR - As seen in the 2005 San Diego performances
- Schecter C1-FR Hellraiser - As seen on KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas 2005
Brian has different variations of his signature model. The "Prototype Synyster Custom" that he played lacks the gothic "SYN" inlay and the "Deathbat" on the 12th fret, instead the "Deathbat" is located on the headstock. His other customs models that are not available to the public follow suits. Currently he plays the model which is available to the public that has the gothic "SYN" inlay and the "Deathbat" on the 12th fret. He also plays a white with gold stripes "Synyster Custom" usually during performances of "Dear God". This guitar is available to the public, but production is limited to a few models. Recently, one or two of his signature model that he uses live has a custom "Sustainiac Stealth Pro" sustainer humbucker pick-up fitted for its neck position which he would usually activate during his solo performance. It also can be heard during the solo of the band's cover of 'Paranoid' by Black Sabbath.
Here is a list of the different variations of his signature guitar:
- Schecter Synyster Custom (Black with Silver Pin Stripes)
- Schecter Synyster Custom (White with Gold Pin Stripes) - First Release: Only 100 made / Second Release: Limited Numbers (2009) / Third Release: Limited Numbers (2010)
- Schecter Synyster Standard (Black with Silver Pin Stripes) - Affordable version of "Synyster Custom"
- Schecter Synyster Custom (White with Red Pin Stripes) - Only 1 was made
- Schecter Synyster Custom (Black with Red Pin stripes) - Limited Numbers
The following guitars were made exclusively for Brian and are not available to the public. Much like the "First Synyster Custom", they lack the gothic "SYN" inlay and the "Deathbat" on the 12th fret with the exception of the Hard Tail Bridge "Synyster Custom".
- Prototype Synyster Custom - As seen in the 2006 Graspop Metal Meeting
- Rebel Flag Synyster Custom - As seen in the "Making of Avenged Sevenfold" video
- American Flag Synyster Custom - As seen in the "Making of Avenged Sevenfold" video
- German Flag Synyster Custom - Briefly seen in the "All Excess" video
- Black with Red Stripes Synyster Custom - As seen in the "Beast and the Harlot" music video
- Red with Black Stripes Synyster Custom - The rarest of all his guitars, never seen in public
- Hard Tail Bridge Synyster Custom - As seen in the "Almost Easy" part of the "Making of Avenged Sevenfold"
Amplifiers & Effects Unit
- Krank Distortus Maximus
- Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive
- Boss CS-3 Compresser Sustainer
- Boss RV-5 Digital Reverb
- Frantone "The Sweet" Distortion
- Digitech Whammy Pedal
- Dunlop Crybaby from Hell
- Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Fuzz Pedal
- Sustainiac Stealth Pro Sustainer
- Visual Sound H20 Chorus & Echo
- Ernie Ball Wah Pedal
- Bogner Uberschall
- Mesa Boogie Rectifier
- Marshall JCM 800
- Mesa Boogie 4x12 Cabinets
- Marshall 4x12 Cabinets
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Born: Fort Benning, Georgia, May 7, 1962
B.A. Microbiology, Ohio State University
M.A. Molecular Biology, University of Wisconsin
M.B.A. Business Administration, University of Chicago
Thriller Sub-genre: Techno-thriller
Future of the series: Though Richards doesn’t have any immediate plans for an additional book in the series, he hasn’t ruled out the possibility for one. I will update if I hear any news.
The Simon Review
I have previously reviewed Douglas E. Richards’ Wired series and I decided to take on his more recent Nick Hall series. The two series share something in common which would be the technological advancement of the human brain. In the Wired series, Richards focuses on the enhancement of human intelligence through gene therapy whereas the Nick Hall series centers on implants that have the ability for the brain to connect directly to the internet as well as reading minds. Now both seem to be in the realm of total science fiction without a hint of any real science and I would probably say that is true of Wired, but the reading of minds may not be so far-fetched (see What about the science?).
Nick Hall is a marine biologist while on an expedition had the misfortune of being kidnapped along with his crew to be experimental guinea pigs in a brain implant study designed by a rather ruthless genius. Hall was the only one to survive and to be the first human to have implants that not only could connect to the internet but gave Hall the capability to read minds. Hall manages to escape from his captors but becomes a wanted man not only by those that had abducted him, but also by the US government that regards him as a national threat. Hall eventually convinces the US government that he is a good guy and a great asset in being a terrorist’s worst nightmare and the story continues from there.
But reading minds is not all fun and games and this ability takes a psychological toll on Hall, but lucky for him there is a woman that becomes his shining light. Megan Emerson has the unique capability of blocking out Hall’s ability to read minds. Not only that, she can communicate with him telepathically which, of course, makes them the perfect couple.
Richards has created not only a fun series but one that is also quite thought provoking. Richards puts the reader in the position of seeing through the eyes of Hall on what it would be like to be a mind reader and it isn’t pretty. My only gripe about the series is that the romantic interludes, particularly in the first book Mind’s Eye, were at times cringe-worthy. Nora Roberts you need not worry. But on the other hand, if you are into provocative technology, breathtaking action, and a hero with a big heart then you will love this series.
It isn’t necessary to read Mind’s Eye before reading BrainWeb and Brain War, but BrainWeb and Brain War should be read sequentially.
Most Favorite Novel in the Series- Mind Wars– because Hall meets his match
Least Favorite Novel in the Series-Mind’s Eye– because of the eye-rolling love scenes
What about the science? A while back I did a review of Ramez Naam’s Nexus series which also dealt with technological interfaces with the brain namely in the form of nano-drugs. In that review I brought up the topic of mind reading with a study that was done by an international group of scientists that designed a device that has the ability to create a very limited mind to mind communication that involves the use of electroencephalogram (EEG) technology and robotized transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Some believe that this form of communication maybe possible by the year 2030. So it looks like mind reading may be more than just science fiction.
The Nick Hall Technical Word in Review: Botulism Toxin– is a neurotoxin produced primarily by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, a bacteria that thrives in environments devoid of oxygen. Clostridium botulinum is naturally found in soil and water samples but derives its infamous reputation by causing food-borne poisoning and wound infections. The botulism toxin is the most lethal toxin known to mankind resulting in paralysis, and death through respiratory failure. Even though the toxin can be quite deadly, it also has its positive side. Many may know the toxin by the name of Botox® which can be used in cosmetics and medicinal purposes such as treating migraines.
There are 9 different botulinum toxins labeled as A, B, (C1, C2), D, E, F, G, and H with A, B, E, and sometimes F causing botulism in humans. Type H also known as BoNT has only recently been discovered and there were concerns about its use as a potent bioweapon as there is no antitoxin, but one recent study indicates that it may be a hybrid between type A and F toxin and be susceptible to antitoxin A.
The botulinum toxin works by preventing the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine from nerve cells. Neurons use acetylcholine to stimulate muscle cells, so when acetylcholine release is blocked the nervous system is cut off from the muscular system which results in paralysis.
The man wasted little time before mixing himself the Manhattan he so desperately longed for. It never occurred to him to check the small vial of botulism toxin he kept hidden at this residence so it would be available if he ever needed it again. It never occurred to him that Hall would dig through his mind to find this piece of circumstantial evidence tying him to the most heinous of crimes.
Hall watched the cocktail glass come to Fisher’s lips, seeing it through the man’s eyes. Fisher took a sip, sighed in contentment, and set the glass back down on the table.
Fifteen seconds later, as he was rolling on the floor, struggling to take a breath that refused to come no matter how great his efforts, he finally understood. Hall read his mind that with his last thought, he realized that he had, indeed, underestimated his former prisoner.–Brain Web
Books in the Series by Order:
Most Favorite in the series: Mind War with a score of 4.42
Least Favorite in the series: Mind’s Eye with a score of 4.08
Based on overall ratings from Goodreads, Library Thing and Amazon (US & UK)
The stench was absolutely horrid that it seemed to be attacking him.
Nick Hall: A marine biologist that has a brain implant that allows him to surf the web and read minds
Megan Emerson: Love interest of Hall and is one of the few people that can block his ability to read minds
Alex Altschuler: Computer genius that was the designer for the brain implant
Justin Girdler: A general that is head of PsyOps
Heather Zambrana: Altschuler’s co-worker and love interest
When Nick Hall wakes up in a dumpster–bloodied, without a memory, and hearing voices in his head–he knows things are bad. But they’re about to get far worse. Because he’s being hunted by a team of relentless assassins. Soon Hall discovers that advanced electronics have been implanted in his brain, and he now has two astonishing abilities. He can surf the web using thoughts alone. And he can read minds. But who inserted the implants? And why? And why is someone so desperate to kill him?
As Hall races to find answers, he comes to learn that far more is at stake than just his life. Because his actions can either catapult civilization to new heights–or bring about its total collapse.
Extrapolated from actual research on thought-controlled web surfing, Mind’s Eye is a smart, roller-coaster ride of a thriller. One that raises a number of intriguing, and sometimes chilling, possibilities about a future that is just around the corner.
She raised her eyebrows. “You didn’t know which destination I would choose. Are you telling me that you memorized the departure times for all possible choices?”
“Not at all. I’m just taking advantage of the personal web access in my head. I signed up for a free notebook app while I was reading the schedules. One with plenty of storage in the cloud. I figured it would be helpful to think information to this app. So I can see the cities and times for each trip in my um…mind’s eye, so to speak. I’ve added a small digital clock at the bottom of any page I call up, so I can get the precise time whenever I want.”
Looking for a review of Mind’s Eye? Check out:
Amazon Rating-US: 4.33 out of 5 stars based on 3,365 ratings
Amazon Rating-UK: 4.40 out of 5 stars based on 46 ratings
GoodReads Rating: 3.92 out of 5 stars based on 5,748 ratings
Library Thing Rating: 3.62 out of 5 stars based on 21 ratings
Total Score 4.08 (Updated 8/7/18)
Abdul Hakim zipped up a gray jumpsuit to fully cover his elegant black tuxedo, protecting it from being marred by moist clay or dirt when he–inevitably–brushed up against the cramped tunnel walls.
Nick Hall, Megan Emerson, Alex Altschuler, Justin Girdler, and Heather Zambrana
Oregon, and California
Nick Hall, an unwilling recipient of brain implants, can surf the Web with his thoughts and read minds. And while this makes him one of the most formidable men on earth, he is determined to stay off the grid.
But when terrorists seize control of the Academy Awards and vow to butcher the world’s most beloved stars, one by one, in front of an international television audience, Hall is forced to reveal his astonishing capabilities.
Now, power players around the world will stop at nothing to capture him. And as the secretive group working with Hall begins to unravel, he is sure of only two things: he has been betrayed by someone close to him. And the stakes he is playing for could not be any higher . . .
When Kelvin Gray had used Nick Hall as an unwilling experimental subject, he had plowed through Hall’s brain like a snowed-in driveway, looking for optimal placement of what had later come to be known as BrainWeb implants. Not only were the four implants tried in any number of locations, but different electrical levels had been used along the way as well.
Looking for a review of BrainWeb? Check out:
Amazon Rating-US: 4.38 out of 5 stars based on 1,017 ratings
Amazon Rating-UK: 4.15 out of 5 stars based on 32 ratings
GoodReads Rating: 4.08 out of 5 stars based on 3,283 ratings
Library Thing Rating: 3.86 out of 5 stars based on 7 ratings
Total Score 4.15 (Updated 8/7/18)
Listed #351 out of 553 on Goodreads Best Technothrillers Ever Book List
Listed #88 out of 172 on Goodreads Best Sciencethrillers Book List
The Sikorsky S-92 executive helicopter raced low over the South Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of Brazil, whipping forward so feverishly close to the waves the man who called himself Victor thought he could almost reach down and touch the sea.
Nick Hall, Megan Emerson, Alex Altschuler, Justin Girdler, and Heather Zambrana
Utah, and California
Nick Hall has revolutionary electronics implanted in his brain that allow him to read minds–including thoughts, memories, and even intent. He can know the passwords, future strategies, and innermost secrets of anyone he chooses, making him the most formidable man alive. But his status as the only mind reader in the world is about to change . . .
Soon Hall is fighting for his life as he races to stop an unimaginably despicable terror plot. But his problems are only beginning. Because when a member of his inner circle betrays him, and the secret to mind reading leaks out, he is forced to wage war against a merciless mind reader of nearly unequaled brilliance. One who will stop at nothing to kill Hall, his colleagues, and the woman he loves. And one who is intent on ushering in a dramatic transformation of the human species–even at the cost of billions of lives.
Looking for a review of Mind War? Check out:
Amazon Rating-US: 4.67 out of 5 stars based on 356 ratings
Amazon Rating-UK: 4.50 out of 5 stars based on 4 ratings
GoodReads Rating: 4.35 out of 5 stars based on 1,172 ratings
Library Thing Rating: not rated
Total Score 4.42 (Updated 8/7/18)
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I was told to pipe down, just relax, cool my jets, get over it, let it go, pick my battles, and move on. Sound familiar?
On the playground in elementary school, I used to get in the face of kids who were nasty when the teachers weren’t looking. In middle school, I used to look directly at bullies through my tears and call them out on their actions. In high school, I used to speak up when kids used others as stepping stones (or public punching bags) to make themselves look and feel more powerful. In the corporate world, I blurted out comments when the emperor had no clothes or bullshit was being served up on a platter. As a parent, I did not turn the other cheek when shit was going down.
All of this made me wildly unpopular at times. I was, of course, singled out by the bully when I diverted the attention to me. I sealed the fate of my dorky outcast status in high school. I was tightly managed in the corporate world. And I felt like a pariah at pick-up time from my kids’ schools, sports sidelines and dinner parties. At one point in my mid 40s—when my give-a-shit meter was just starting to go on the fritz—another mother actually cautioned me to “be nice” as I was walking into a school community gathering.
As a result, for most of my life, I tried to walk this razor thin line between taking a stand (which had me speaking up) and muting myself (which had me playing small). I harbored this secret shame that I was unbelievably cruel and mean and capable of doing some serious harm. In short, I battled this chronic fear that if I weren’t careful, I would use my powers for evil, not good. I became afraid of feeling angry, and learned it’s best to keep that shit under tight wraps lest I express it outwardly and lay waste to everything I hold dear.
It wasn’t until I started questioning my own beliefs about myself (you know, the ones I had been given and swallowed whole without chewing?), that I started to see there was an enormous gap between the words I’d associated with myself and people’s actual experience of me. Big. Huge. Gap.
When I had a really honest conversation with myself and pulled out the feedback, cards and emails I’d collected from clients over the years to examine the actual comments about my work and people’s perceptions of me, I could finally see what I had missed. It turns out the most common descriptors of me were: warm…big-hearted…make me feel safe..honest…keep it real… inspiring… feel like I can be myself, can say anything…
That was a watershed moment for me.
I realized that somewhere in my youth, I had been called vicious and ruthless or mean maybe a couple of times by a couple of people, and because of its impact, it stuck. I assumed it was true and never questioned it. Until about 30 years later.
I wrote about this in my book, telling my story of facing and unpacking anger for myself and how I reframed it and, ultimately, reclaimed it. Because you know what lived inside that bundle of shame? My truth, my voice, my effectiveness as a leader, and my ability to affect change. Today, anger, as it relates to women, has been the single most requested topic people want to explore with me during interviews, book readings and storytelling since releasing my book.
Now all this is not to say that I can’t be mean (I can), and that I’m not capable of hurting someone with my words or actions (I do), or that I’m now magically fearless or unfettered (I’m not). My (big) heart still beats wildly in my chest right before I say something out loud that I know will be unpopular, hard to hear or will challenge the status quo. I still replay the video tapes in my head afterward, double-checking myself. Am I mean? Am I blind? Am I delusional?
But now? Those are genuine questions born out of true curiosity, not out of desire to participate in my own shame. Those questions keep me honest, not small. Those questions keep me humble and connected—living from my heart and my light, not from my head and a desire to hide.
I know I’m not alone, and that helps give me courage. I hear similar versions of the same story from women who make the move, step out, speak up, use their voice, and show themselves. So often those stories begin with being confused, disappointed, concerned, perplexed, frustrated, hurt, and even sad. But you know what’s waiting for us when we dig beneath all that stuff?
Anger. Even rage.
“‘In hard times, filled with hate, look to your highest self instead of getting angry,’ they say. As if my highest self isn’t angry as fuck.” – Andréa Ranae
And here’s the part where anger intersects and clashes wildly with our white women culture. Anger is seen as unattractive, distasteful, threatening and destructive. We are taught from a young age to get rid of it quickly and discreetly, passing it on like a hot potato to someone else if need be. We don’t have a lot of practice being with it, let alone giving voice to it. The result? We kind of suck at expressing our anger at a time when many of us are full to the brim of it, and we could be using that energy to create and lead change.
The bottom line: We white women have some work to do owning and expressing our anger.
Now let me just pause here and clarify that this is not to suggest that white women are the only angry women. Nor do I mean to suggest that women of color have all that anger shit figured out either. There are plenty of angry women in our world these days, and legions of us are getting loads of opportunity to experience it. What I’m seeking to do—for myself and other white women— is to shine a very particular light in the corner of our white women culture that we don’t often discuss: all that anger we feel and what we do with it.
Because that stuff in our corner? It’s still there, and getting bigger. And if we don’t allow it to exist because we’re uncomfortable (or out of practice, or afraid of not being liked…), we run the risk of it coming out sideways, having it be misdirected, and ultimately rendering it (and us) ineffective.
Ever been dismissed as a bitch, hysterical or an angry feminist? Then you know what happens next. Most of us shut up or get shut down.
But keep all that anger inside, and it rots and festers within us. I can’t help but make the connection between this unexpressed (in many cases, unvalidated) anger and the state of women’s health. Heart disease. Breast cancer. Depression. What’s that phrase Carolyn Myss, Christiane Northrup and so many others talk about? Our biography is our biology. And when you lay over the history of women and the impact of years of patriarchy? Well now, that’s a pretty rich history that we carry in our collective cellular memories as women.
You know what helps? Practice.
You know what doesn’t? Shame.
Why is this important? Because in the absence of doing our own work with anger as white women, we will shop around for others to express that anger for us—like men and women of color or white men. We’ll ask other people to hold the hard stuff we don’t want to be with at a time when many people of color have their arms full of stuff already. There is much to be angry about these days—the injustices, the oppression, the corruption, the violence — and we need all hands on deck if we are to right this ship. Waiting to get comfortable with our anger, be good at voicing it publicly, or having it feel safe is an exercise in white privilege; just as getting self righteous about it is —both actions serve to disconnect and divide us further from ourselves and each other.
You know what helps? Curiosity.
You know what doesn’t? Judgement.
Like many of you reading this, I have been struggling mightily with the anger that has kicked up for me in the wake of our last presidential election. I find I have been working overtime to face and feel the intensity of my anger and use the power of my voice with intention. And yet, many days I am overwhelmed with what I see…how the opportunities…they seem to be…everywhere.
I was sitting with my therapist recently recounting one of them, qualifying it as “not a big deal”, but more of an example of how microaggressions can pile up pretty quickly. I was telling her the story of talking with a man when another man came over and started talking over me, not even acknowledging that A) I was there, or B) I was talking. Without skipping a beat, the man I was talking to stopped listening to me and diverted his attention to the other man. And off they went. I stopped talking and and no one noticed. Or cared. I was fuming but bit my tongue.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” my therapist asked.
“I didn’t want to be, you know… THAT angry feminist,” I responded.
“Why not? “she countered.
Good point. Why not, indeed.
“The patriarchy is so scared of women’s anger that eventually we learn to fear it, too. We walk around as if we were bombs about to go off, worried about admitting how livid we really are, even to ourselves.” – Laurie Penny
Writer Laurie Penny talks about this very thing in her book Bitch Doctrine, exploring why women hide anger, why we fear it and how we can use it to create change. She is clear about the need to distinguish anger from hatred (“anger is an emotion, hatred is an action…”) Gloria Steinem has been talking about anger for most of her life. Danielle LaPorte’s latest book explores the notion of “spiritual bypassing” and how “all the woo [can] keep us from dealing with our poo.” Most recently, Tina Fey—in only the way Tina Fey can do—shined a humorous and extremely well-pointed barb on the rage living inside women these days, stirring up a mixed-bag of responses with her “sheet caking” alternative to protest, that would have women yelling at their cakes.
You know what helps? Acknowledging the suckage and trying anyway.
You know what doesn’t? Pretending it doesn’t matter and expecting things to change.
So I, for one, will continue to pull up my plate of anger and sit it squarely in front of me—my version of a sheet cake, I guess. Which means I will get messy with it, make mistakes, make an ass of myself, maybe even offend someone. But you know what? I’ll learn something in the process. I will have practiced something hard and will suck less at it each time as a result of that effort. I have no intention of stuffing my words down with cake or misdirecting my anger at some shapeless mass of empty carbs, though. And I will try my best to remember this:
It’s not about being nice; it’s about feeling angry.
It’s not about being unproductive; it’s about being honest and showing up.
It’s not about being ready, it’s about being present.
It’s not about feeling safe or comfortable, it’s about being accountable.
And if that doesn’t work, I will hold the image of Tina yelling at the camera with frosting all over her face and her fork flailing around. And if I am so moved, I will lift up my fists full of frosting and make some noise for change — ready or not.
Want to hear more stories like this? Check out my Unscripted Evening coming up this September 28th in Yarmouth, Maine. Tickets are now on sale.
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Welcome to PennLive's live blog of the PIAA Track and Field Championships at Seth Grove Stadium at Shippensburg University.
Boys' results will be updated here throughout the day. For our girls' blog from the meet, click here.
On Friday, there are several field events in their finals, but all track events are in the trials phase. Only the 3200-meter run does not have a trial.
6:53 p.m.: - Boys AAA 4x00 Relay: Two relay teams from the midstate have reached Saturday's final - CD East (3:21.44) and State College (3:22.79). Cheltenham had the top prelim time with a 3:19.57.
That wraps up Friday's boys' coverage of the PIAA Track and Field Championships. Thanks for joining us. The action resumes Saturday morning at 9 a.m. with field events. Here is a link for Saturday's schedule of events for both the field and the track.
6:20 p.m. - Boys AA 4x400 Relay:Wyomissing is the only District 3 qualifier to reach Saturday's final. The Spartans turned in a 3:26.55. Riverside turned the top prelim time with a 3:24.32.
5:02 p.m. - Boys 200: Central Dauphin senior Corey Allen is headed to Saturday morning's Class AAA semifinals after sprinting to a 22.23. He'll be joined by two other District 3 sprinters in Twin Valley senior Nigel Hill and Daniel Boone senior Xavier Smith. Ridley senior Malik Jones has the top AAA prelim time with a 21.47.
4:46 p.m. - Here's the story and video from PennLive's Jeff Reinhart on Carlisle frehman Deshawn Millington winning the Boys AAA triple jump.
4:32 p.m. - Boys 800: Boiling Springs senior Jonathan Goodson will be back Saturday for the Class AA final after finishing second in Heat 2 with a 1:58.07. The top Class AA prelim time came from Beaver Falls sophomore Domenic Perretta, who finished in 1:52.72.
4:26 p.m. - Boys AAA Pole Vault: Northern Lebanon senior Derek DiAngelis finished third with a 14-6. Mifflin County's George Donahey took eighth with a 13-6. The PIAA Class AAA title goes to Valley View junior Ryan Wilkes with a 15-6.
4:01 p.m. - Boys 300 hurdles: Conestoga Valley senior Chance Post, the District 3-AAA champion, turned in the top Class AAA prelim time with a 38.04. Also reaching the finals is CD East junior Charles Bowman with a 39.48.
In Class AA, no District 3 hurdlers reached Saturday's final. Delaware Valley Charter senior Donaldo Benjamin had the top prelim time with a 38.23.
3:45 p.m. - Boys AAA Triple Jump: In addition to Millington's state title, Carlisle teammate and junior Isa Paschall took eighth with a 40-10 1/2. The bronze medal went to State College senior Bryce Williams, who produced a 47-7 1/4.
3:26 p.m. - Boys AAA Triple Jump: Carlisle freshman Deshawn Millington is your 2014 PIAA Class AAA Champion after producing a 48-6 1/2. More on this story shortly from PennLive's Jeff Reinhart.
3:21 p.m. - Boys 4x100 Relay: Three midstate Class AAA relay teams have qualified for Saturday's final. Cedar Crest clocked a 42.56 and finished second in Heat 1, while Carlisle produced a 43.04 and State College came in at 43.24.
2:13 p.m. - Boys AA Shot Put: Hickory swept the top two spots as senior Luke Lewis took gold with a 61-8 1/4 and junior Austin Aikins grabbed second with a 53-1 1/2. Joey Mundell, a sophomore from Schuylkill Valley, captured the bronze with a 51-6 1/2.
2:12 p.m. - Boys 400: Lebanon junior Jeronimo Rodriguez clocked a 49.42 in the Class AAA preliminaries to reach Saturday's final. He'll be joined from the midstate by James Buchanan junior Peter Hughey and State College senior Mason Post. South Western senior Logan Bowman also reached the finals with a 49.76. The top AAA prelim time belongs to Ridley's Malik Jones with a 48.11.
12:55 p.m. - Boys 1600: Carlisle junior Zach Brehm finished in 4:18.27 to win Heat 1 in the Class AAA preliminaries. He finished with the fifth best prelim time. Also in the finals are Hershey junior Will Sponaugle, Lower Dauphin senior Cole Nissley and New Oxford junior Aaron Gebhart. The top AAA prelim time belongs to West Chester Henderson senior Tony Russell, who ran a 4:16.69.
In Class AA, There were no District 3 runners who advanced to Saturday's final. Kyle Gonoude of Salisbury Twp. had the top prelim time with a 4:21.50.
12:29 p.m. - From PennLive's Jeff Reinhart: Columbia’s Edward Moore was the lone L-L League Class AA boys’ competitor in the PIAA track and field finals. A team of one, so to speak. Moore on Friday morning finished ninth in the triple jump competition with a leap of 43-6. Huntington Area’s Kobren Frederick took gold with a leap of 46-2 1/2.
12:18 p.m. - Boys 100 meters: In Class AA, Trinity senior Brandon Kuntz is headed to the semifinals after sprinting to an 11.09 and winning the first heat. He'll be joined by Steel-High senior James Warren, who had an 11.12. Clarion Area's Ian Corbett had the top prelim sprint with a 10.91.
In Class AAA, Cedar Crest senior Denzel Pierre, Milton Hershey junior Keith Hunter and Daniel Boone senior Xavier Smith will also compete in Saturday's semifinals. Obama Academy's Eddie Harris was top AAA prelim sprinter with a 10.81.
12:11 p.m. - Boys AA javelin: Berks Catholic junior Matt Reinhart nabs the PIAA Class AA title in impressive fashion with a 186-7. Reinhart's winning throw was three feet better than silver medalist Nick Despot of Brownsville.
12:09 p.m. - Here is a story from PennLive's Jeff Reinhart on Warwick junior David Lucas' silver medal performances in the Boys AAA discus.
11:57 a.m. - Boys AA triple jump - Huntingdon Area's Kobren Fredericks is your PIAA Class AA champion after a finish of 46-2 1/4. He finished two feet ahead of Richland senior Michael Somiari in a battle of two District 6 standout. No District 3 competitors medaled in the event with Columbia senior Edward Moore finishing ninth.
11:45 a.m. - Boys AAA 110 hurdles - CD East will send two hurdlers to the semifinals as junior Charles Bowman clocked a 14.63 and senior James Waters finished with a 14.51. Harrisburg junior Dashaun Jackson also advanced to the finals as did Conestoga Valley junior Chance Post. The top prelim time belonged to Elizabeth-Forward's Matt Bernadowski.
11:40 a.m. - Boys AA 110 hurdles - East Juniata senior David Brantley is the lone midstate semifinalist qualifier after clocking a 15.53. Palmerton junior Austin Shupp had the top prelim finish with a 14.23.
11:32 a.m. - Boys AAA discus - Warwick junior David Lucas, the reigning Lancaster-Lebanon League and District 3-AAA chamion, grabs the silver medal with a school-record 187-3. Hempfield Area's Max Adams is the state champ with a 198-3. Fleetwood senior Morgan Shigo finished fourth with a 173-10.
11:02 a.m. - Boys AAA 4x800 relay:State College will be the top team to watch for Saturday's final after edging out West Chester Henderson in the preliminaries. The Little Lions relay finished in 7:52.25 to beat Henderson by .16 seconds. Cedar Crest and Central Dauphin also advanced to the final. The Falcons went sub-eight minutes with a 7:54.79.
10:58 a.m. - Boys AA 4x800 relay:Trinity and Boiling Springs both advanced out of the preliminaries and will vie for state medals on Saturday. The Shamrocks, who finished in 8:13.67, finished second in Heat 2 behind top seed Washington. The Bubblers clocked a 8:17.64. Wyomissing and Schuylkill Valley also advanced to give District 3 four relay finalists for Saturday.
10:34 a.m. - Boys AA triple jump: District 3-AA champ Brandon Stanback of Bishop McDevitt, seeded second, has failed to reach the finals. He fouled on his first two attempts and did not jump far enough of his third and final preliminary jump.
9:10 a.m. - The PIAA Track and Field championships have started. Three boys' events have started in the field, and the 4x800-meter preliminaries are running on the track. Updates will be coming later in the morning as results come in.
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A SHORT HISTORY OF THE WORLD BY H. G. WELLS
67.THE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION OF THE WORLD
The scheme and scale upon which this History is planned do not permit us to enter into the complicated and acrimonious disputes that centre about the treaties, and particularly of the treaty of Versailles, which concluded the Great War. We are beginning to realize that that conflict, terrible and enormous as it was, ended nothing, began nothing and settled nothing. It killed millions of people; it wasted and impoverished the world. It smashed Russia altogether. It was at best an acute and frightful reminder that we were living foolishly and confusedly without much plan or foresight in a dangerous and unsympathetic universe. The crudely organized egotisms and passions of national and imperial greed that carried mankind into that tragedy, emerged from it sufficiently unimpaired to make some other similar disaster highly probable so soon as the world has a little recovered from its war exhaustion and fatigue. Wars and revolutions make nothing; their utmost service to mankind is that, in a very rough and painful way, they destroy superannuated and obstructive things. The great war lifted the threat of German imperialism from Europe, and shattered the imperialism of Russia. It cleared away a number of monarchies. But a multitude of flags still waves in Europe, the frontiers still exasperate, great armies accumulate fresh stores of equipment.
The Peace Conference at Versailles was a gathering very ill adapted to do more than carry out the conflicts and defeats of the war to their logical conclusions. The Germans, Austrians, Turks and Bulgarians were permitted no share in its deliberations; they were only to accept the decisions it dictated to them. From the point of view of human welfare the choice of the place of meeting was particularly unfortunate. It was at Versailles in 1871 that, with every circumstance of triumphant vulgarity, the new German Empire had been proclaimed. The suggestion of a melodramatic reversal of that scene, in the same Hall of Mirrors, was overpowering.
Whatever generosities had appeared in the opening phases of the Great War had long been exhausted. The populations of the victorious countries were acutely aware of their own losses and sufferings, and entirely regardless of the fact that the defeated had paid in the like manner. The war had arisen as a natural and inevitable consequence of the competitive nationalisms of Europe and the absence of any Federal adjustment of these competitive forces; war is the necessary logical consummation of independent sovereign nationalities living in too small an area with too powerful an armament; and if the great war had not come in the form it did it would have come in some similar form—just as it will certainly return upon a still more disastrous scale in twenty or thirty years’ time if no political unification anticipates and prevents it. States organized for war will make wars as surely as hens will lay eggs, but the feeling of these distressed and war-worn countries disregarded this fact, and the whole of the defeated peoples were treated as morally and materially responsible for all the damage, as they would no doubt have treated the victor peoples had the issue of war been different. The French and English thought the Germans were to blame, the Germans thought the Russians, French and English were to blame, and only an intelligent minority thought that there was anything to blame in the fragmentary political constitution of Europe. The treaty of Versailles was intended to be exemplary and vindictive; it provided tremendous penalties for the vanquished; it sought to provide compensations for the wounded and suffering victors by imposing enormous debts upon nations already bankrupt, and its attempts to reconstitute international relations by the establishment of a League of Nations against war were manifestly insincere and inadequate.
So far as Europe was concerned it is doubtful if there would have been any attempt whatever to organize international relations for a permanent peace. The proposal of the League of Nations was brought into practical politics by the President of the United States of America, President Wilson. Its chief support was in America. So far the United States, this new modern state, had developed no distinctive ideas of international relationship beyond the Monroe Doctrine, which protected the new world from European interference. Now suddenly it was called upon for its mental contribution to the vast problem of the time. It had none. The natural disposition of the American people was towards a permanent world peace. With this however was linked a strong traditional distrust of old-world polities and a habit of isolation from old-world entanglements. The Americans had hardly begun to think out an American solution of world problems when the submarine campaign of the Germans dragged them into the war on the side of the anti-German allies. President Wilson’s scheme of a League of Nations was an attempt at short notice to create a distinctively American world project. It was a sketchy, inadequate and dangerous scheme. In Europe however it was taken as a matured American point of view. The generality of mankind in 1918-19 was intensely weary of war and anxious at almost any sacrifice to erect barriers against its recurrence, but there was not a single government in the old world willing to waive one iota of its sovereign independence to attain any such end. The public utterances of President Wilson leading up to the project of a World League of Nations seemed for a time to appeal right over the heads of the governments to the peoples of the world; they were taken as expressing the ripe intentions of America, and the response was enormous. Unhappily President Wilson had to deal with governments and not with peoples; he was a man capable of tremendous flashes of vision and yet when put to the test egotistical and limited, and the great wave of enthusiasm he evoked passed and was wasted. Says Dr. Dillon in his book, _The Peace Conference:_ “Europe, when the President touched its shores, was as clay ready for the creative potter. Never before were the nations so eager to follow a Moses who would take them to the long-promised land where wars are prohibited and blockades unknown. And to their thinking he was just that great leader. In France men bowed down before him with awe and affection.
Labour leaders in Paris told me that they shed tears of joy in his presence, and that their comrades would go through fire and water to help him to realize his noble schemes. To the working classes in Italy his name was a heavenly clarion at the sound of which the earth would be renewed. The Germans regarded him and his doctrine as their sheet-anchor of safety. The fearless Herr Muehlon said: ‘If President Wilson were to address the Germans and pronounce a severe sentence upon them, they would accept it with resignation and without a murmur and set to work at once.’ In German-Austria his fame was that of a saviour, and the mere mention of his name brought balm to the suffering and surcease of sorrow to the afflicted .. .”
Such were the overpowering expectations that President Wilson raised. How completely he disappointed them and how weak and futile was the League of Nations he made is too long and too distressful a story to tell here. He exaggerated in his person our common human tragedy, he was so very great in his dreams and so incapable in his performance.
America dissented from the acts of its President and would not join the League Europe accepted from him. There was a slow realization on the part of the American people that it had been rushed into something for which it was totally unprepared. There was a corresponding realization on the part of Europe that America had nothing ready to give to the old world in its extremity. Born prematurely and crippled at its birth, that League has become indeed, with its elaborate and unpractical constitution and its manifest limitations of power, a serious obstacle in the way of any effective reorganization of international relationships. The problem would be a clearer one if the League did not yet exist. Yet that world-wide blaze of enthusiasm that first welcomed the project, that readiness of men everywhere round and about the earth, of men, that is, as distinguished from governments, for a world control of war, is a thing to be recorded with emphasis in any history.
Behind the short-sighted governments that divide and mismanage human affairs, a real force for world unity and world order exists and grows. From 1918 onward the world entered upon an age of conferences. Of these the Conference at Washington called by President Harding (1921) has been the most successful and suggestive. Notable, too, is the Genoa Conference (1922) for the appearance of German and Russian delegates at its deliberations. We will not discuss this long procession of conferences and tentatives in any detail. It becomes more and more clearly manifest that a huge work of reconstruction has to be done by mankind if a crescendo of such convulsions and world massacres as that of the great war is to be averted. No such hasty improvisation as the League of Nations, no patched-up system of Conferences between this group of states and that, which change nothing with an air of settling everything, will meet the complex political needs of the new age that lies before us. A systematic development and a systematic application of the sciences of human relationship, of personal and group psychology, of financial and economic science and of education, sciences still only in their infancy, is required. Narrow and obsolete, dead and dying moral and political ideas have to be replaced by a clearer and a simpler conception of the common origins and destinies of our kind.
But if the dangers, confusions and disasters that crowd upon man in these days are enormous beyond any experience of the past, it is because science has brought him such powers as he never had before. And the scientific method of fearless thought, exhaustively lucid statement, and exhaustively criticized planning, which has given him these as yet uncontrollable powers, gives him also the hope of controlling these powers. Man is still only adolescent. His troubles are not the troubles of senility and exhaustion but of increasing and still undisciplined strength. When we look at all history as one process, as we have been doing in this book, when we see the steadfast upward struggle of life towards vision and control, then we see in their true proportions the hopes and dangers of the present time. As yet we are hardly in the earliest dawn of human greatness. But in the beauty of flower and sunset, in the happy and perfect movement of young animals and in the delight of ten thousand various landscapes, we have some intimations of what life can do for us, and in some few works of plastic and pictorial art, in some great music, in a few noble buildings and happy gardens, we have an intimation of what the human will can do with material possibilities. We have dreams; we have at present undisciplined but ever increasing power. Can we doubt that presently our race will more than realize our boldest imaginations, that it will achieve unity and peace, that it will live, the children of our blood and lives will live, in a world made more splendid and lovely than any palace or garden that we know, going on from strength to strength in an ever widening circle of adventure and achievement?
What man has done, the little triumphs of his present state, and all this history we have told, form but the prelude to the things that man has got to do.
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Setting up Google ads and/or Facebook campaigns from scratch and targeting the right people requires expertise and only few people actually understand how it works. But how about having a template handy that shows you the process without you needing to rack your brains or spend days figuring things out on your own?
How about adapting the strategy that’s already working and saving yourself the stress of wasting ads budget on a trial and error approach? I chose this option about three years ago and the journey has been really amazing so far. I wish I had known about this program 10 years ago. It would have helped me escape the rat race I was in pushing my online hustle without a definite clue or guide.
The Local Marketing Vault is where you get to use the “Done For You Campaigns” across different niches. There are about 31 pre-made funnels in the vault that cover building marketing funnels and how to set up Google and Facebook ads, step by step. Interestingly, they are always adding more to the existing funnels to cater for emerging niches.
Learn more about my #1 recommendation to grow an online lead gen business
Why Is LMV The Easiest Way to Start A Lead Gen Biz?
- If you understand the game properly, getting leads using Facebook and/or Google ads is the fastest route to scale your lead generation business as it enables you to get traffic right away. There is danger in keeping your clients waiting for weeks or months before you get results. They can easily replace you if you are not getting results for them.
- Using simple tactics and the “copy & paste” funnels in Vault, I was able to pull in 7 new clients and $4,029. Impressive, right!? But let’s forget about me for a second and look at the other guys in the Vault that were pulling in $3,000 clients or $1,000 in single clients.
Another outstanding benefit of being in a part of the Vault, apart from the training and access to pre-made funnels, is the opportunity to meet and work with people of like minds. The Local Marketing Vault Facebook group has over 5,000 active and supportive people who you can learn from.
In case you are not that confident about your tech skills, no worries. LMV has a sub group on their dashboard known as Preferred Partner List. This feature connects you with an expert that you can partner with on a project.
This goes without saying that you can also create additional funnels by yourself. It is super easy to set up funnels. All you need are ClickFunnels account, Zapier, Wufoo forms and probably a call tracking software, depending on what works for a particular client.
Why Facebook and/or Google Ads?
- The two platforms have insanely vast amounts of data that you can easily leverage to target people based on the niche and the market target of your client. Facebook for example, is the biggest social network worldwide with over 2.6 billion monthly active users as of the first quarters of 2020. This tells you how often people interface with their Facebook apps.
Both platforms allow you to set the demographics you want to target. That said, it is possible to target only people living in a particular district or town. This enables you to maximize your ad spend and get the most result from your marketing efforts.
My Sweetbitter Experience with SEO
- I ventured into internet marketing in 2006 having honed my skills and expertise in search engine optimization (SEO). I was combining my digital marketing side hustle with my regular 9-5 job. For one, I’d always wanted more freedom and flexibility in how I worked. I wanted to create a scalable business that would generate both immediate and long-term proceeds.
Although ranking on the first page of search engines like Google was never an easy feat, I was able to achieve some remarkable results both in terms of the web performance and monetary gains. At one point, I was raking in about $20-25k a month in addition to the income I earned from my regular 9-5 job.
I just heard you screamed, “Oh, that’s not a bad man!”
Of course it wasn’t bad at all. But it didn’t take long before everything crashed down only after about a 6-12 month period. The client stopped paying when it was taking forever to get results.
Do I mean SEO is not effective?
Far from it. SEO works, but it takes time and you may end up losing clients if they are not getting results.
Besides, there is no definite guide or blueprint that guarantees continuous results with SEO. This is partly due to the periodic changes and updates on Google ranking factors. Moving alongside the flow isn’t something everyone can actually cope with. But it is much easier and faster to get instant results if you understand how to run successful PPC ads.
I have tried both SEO and paid advertising and the method that gives me the more results is generating leads using paid advertising. I have been able to create a scalable and sustainable business where I earn 4-5 figures per month. And I’m definitely stepping up my game to make more in the coming days.
Need more information about how you can start a profitable lead gen business with the Local Marketing Vault? You can read what people who’ve succeeded with the program are saying HERE.
CEO/Jack of all trades master of none! The Daily SEM
Father of 4 awesome kids and husband to 1 awesome wife.
Don't get bogged down by the bells and whistles out there.
His #1 online business pick for 2020 and beyond to grow your own 6/7-figure business getting results now for clients vs later. Learn more here
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When I was in high school, I had set a rule for myself. The rule was that I bought atleast one white dress every year. There wasn’t anybody who asked me to follow this rule, but I did follow it diligently, mainly because of my love for the color white. In the last few years, I haven’t been able to stick to this rule. This was not because of any specific reason, but I just missed it.
From last couple of months, I have been repeatedly saying to S that I need to buy one white dress this year. When we visited my in-laws’ place, we bought few dress materials from a store in the city. We made sure one of them was in the color White. Recently, S and I gave the cloth to a tailor and asked him to stitch a nice kurta. Yesterday, we brought the kurta from the tailor’s store. The kurta was perfectly made and we were so happy about it. S was so excited that he put the kurta in the washing machine immediately after returning home. You know why?? Yeah, you guessed right. He wanted me to wear it the next day(today) to office 🙂 These are the little things that S keeps doing and I can’t stop myself from loving him more and more 🙂
Today, when I dressed up and looked into the mirror, I felt so peaceful, happy and confident. There is something about the color WHITE. I don’t know whether it’s the purity of the color or the brightness that it brings over the face or plainly my love for the color, that makes me feel wonderful when I wear a white-colored dress.
After a year’s break, I started riding my TVS Scooty again. I enjoy the ride from home to office and vice versa. Riding my bike gives me extreme joy. It instills a lot of confidence within me and gives me a sense of freedom. I have been riding a two-wheeler from the time I joined college and I have always enjoyed it to the core. Today, on my way towards my office, all the memories attached to riding my bike in the past came to live again.
Riding reminds me of those days when I was studying in an Engineering college in Pune. My college was situated quite far from my house. Early in the morning, before 8 a.m., I rode to college on my TVS Scooty. The times I spent riding were one of the best times then. I got drenched in rain during the heavy rains. I got sun-burnt and dehydrated during the peak-summer days. I shivered when the winter breezes blew towards me while riding. I got stuck on the roads in the heavy traffic hours. But, nothing could ever take away or diminish the happiness that I got every time I rode my TVS Scooty. I enjoyed driving thoroughly and it had become an integral part of my life then.
Riding also reminds me of the days when I rode to office in Bangalore. I often sung songs while riding. Sometimes, I was so loud that even people beside me could hear me, but I never bothered. I know that sounds funny 😀 But, if a car can have a sound system and a bike can’t, why can’t I entertain myself by singing, right friends ;)? Though the traffic conditions got worse sometimes, I still managed to keep my cool and drive patiently and I feel that was a great achievement for me. Driving taught me to become more patient in life. And, believe it or not, I have become much more patient and understanding in life than I was some years back. A major part of the credit goes to driving without any doubt 🙂 When S and I became friends, he would often ride pillion with me and I enjoyed those rides a lot. S always appreciated the way I drove and that instilled more confidence within me 🙂
S and I are very attached to our TVS Scooty because of the moments we shared while I rode. We treat it like our baby. We even greet it while we watch it standing in the parking lot 😉 In the last year, when I wasn’t driving much, S often went to the parking space and started the bike just to check whether it’s doing fine 🙂 You won’t believe that our Scooty is almost 12 years old, but still runs brilliantly. Touch wood! Today, as I was riding I realized that driving is one activity in my life that has surely added to my happiness in the past and it will continue in future too. And hence, I would never want to give it up in life 🙂
On the last day of the year, I planned out for the New Year’s celebration without letting S know about it. I wanted to thank S for the wonderful time we spent together in 2013, and hence I thought of giving him a surprise. I ordered for a Black Forest cake for the celebration. After leaving from the office, I visited the super-market to buy some food-stuff I required for the dinner. Then, I collected some stuff for decorating the house from a store near our house. I kept all the stuff at home and then went to collect the cake from the cake-shop. In the meantime, S called if everything was fine. I usually send him a message after reaching home. Since he didn’t get the message even after 2 hours from the time I left office, he was worried 🙂 I told him that I visited the super-market for shopping and would soon return home. But, I am sure he sensed that I was planning out something 😉 It is so difficult to keep your surprises hidden from your husband, isn’t it?
After reaching home, I was terribly tired as there was too much traffic on the roads that day. I took rest for a while and then started decorating the wall in front of our dining table. The wall was looking good after the decorations were done. I placed some floating candles in a bowl of water and I kept the bowl in the center of the table. Though I wanted to finish off everything before S reached home, it didn’t happen because I couldn’t reach home on time. The credit goes to the traffic here 😉 When I started with the preparations in the kitchen, S reached home. S saw the decorated wall and the candles and he was completely taken aback. He was very happy that I took so much effort to plan for a celebration. He then joined in the preparations. We together made Pav-Bhaji for dinner. S also blew the balloons and added few more colors on the wall. When the dinner was ready, we lit the floating candles and enjoyed the meal. The Pav-Bhaji turned out to be really delicious. S kept saying that he was so happy about the way I planned out for the evening.
At midnight, we cut the cake, wished each other and then went off to sleep at once. We were too tired to even watch television that night 🙂 And at the end of it, I was super-happy that my plan of making S happy had worked out well.
On Saturday, S and I went out for lunch and shopping. We had some nice food at one of the restaurants that we visit often. After lunch, we started off with shopping. When we reached the Home Center section in the mall, we thought of trying out our luck in the table cloths’ section once again. We have been looking for an appropriate table-cloth from quite sometime and we’ve tried our luck a lot of times, but in vain. We even bought one from the same place, but returned it as it didn’t fit our dining table well. But, on Saturday, to our surprise, we got a table-cloth which perfectly fitted our table. I must have mentioned this before too, that S and I patiently wait for something that we really want. We never compromise and buy in haste. When we do get what we wished for, the happiness it brings about is something that can’t be expressed in words.
On Sunday, we received an invitation from a friend to attend his wife’s birthday party. They had invited us and a few other friends for lunch at the restaurant named “Chulha chauki da dhaba”. Earlier, I had told S that I wished to go out that day on my Scooty and I want him to ride pillion. But, we were late for lunch and hence we dropped the plan of going on my bike. The restaurant was decent. The stone-flooring, dim lights and the seating arrangements gave a perfect Dhaba look to the restaurant. The food was tasty, but an overdose of spices 😉
After having lunch, S suggested that we could go for Bowling in Amoeba. I had been asking S to take me there from quite sometime, but because of the medication that I am undergoing, we couldn’t plan it out. Seven of us went to Amoeba and had a lot of fun there. And, guess what, I scored the second-highest points while bowling. Yippee! 🙂 🙂 Later, we played some more games and had some more fun. And then, we gathered at a restaurant, had some tea/coffee/milkshake which was much-needed after all that loud music and fun. We departed after sometime.
On the way back home, although we were tired, we decided to go for shopping in the complex close to our house. I asked S if we could go on my Scooty. I told him that I would love to drive if he accompanied me on the Scooty and he agreed 🙂 It felt so magical to drive towards the shopping complex while my dear husband was enjoying the cool breeze that blew over his face. It reminded me of the days when S and I worked in the same organization and he often rode pillion with me on my TVS Scooty. Those are one of best memories of my life which I would treasure till eternity. So, yes, my wish did come true that day! We ordered for some furniture and did some shopping at the complex. After we reached home, we relaxed, had food and slept off happily. It was a great weekend! 🙂
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You could think it sounds like tiresome game- playing yet actually it is just flirtation combined with a little of ground- testing. As well as it can be fun once you can see it is reciprocated and feel the glow of reassurance that she is kind of interested.
All that anxiety that brought pain dissolved, and I began to develop an muscle to remain grounded in my internal power and energy. I was free from my insecurities, and this brought me peace and happiness. You have to experience this pain that flushed from you andyou're feeling to be healed. No one will be able to help you with this, not the Twin Flame that you simply share a soul with. This is a procedure for purifying your spirit.
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Slump was over, and I rode high on the matches that were coming my way. By today, I could easily pick and choose which ones I was interested in. It was almost like working a conveyor belt.
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Account function WeChat that is switch allows you to stay signed into two accounts with one phone. It's far better to get a dedicated account for dating and another account for the life. Basically, create two WeChat accounts( you will need two phone numbers) .
I gave it with. Then I got an email titled, " Soyou're a relationship coach. " He had Googled my cell number and la rambla prostitutes out exactly what I did rather than hearing it straight. The story's moral is get a Google number so men can not find out too much about you.
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Bill informs her he's terminal cancer in July. In August she tells us she's not going back to the senior year in school. We tell her she must return to college for Bill- and for herself. I am with Bill, that has just found out his cancer has metastasized to his brain. I am unable to create the yearly Mont-Saint-Gregoire Québec escorts backpage latina to move my daughter back into NYU, so her boyfriend Josh along with my sister go, kicking and screaming, back to New York, using the sit- stay method you use with puppies to make sure she remains until they're safely out of Mont-Saint-Gregoire QC confidential online dating. But then Josh goes down there( which is okay, we guess) and he drives her home lots of weekends so she can spend time with Bill. So it's okay. Until they tell us in October that they're getting married. Not just that, they want to get married over winter break in January because she wants Bill to give away her before he dies( she does not really tell Bill that a part, but he pretty much figures out it) .
Leaving Your Mark Behind suppose this date thoroughly enjoyed the company of the other individual and did work out as intended and you. You want the other person think about you and to keep in mind, would not you? So how do you make certain that the other person does believe about you? The solution is simple. Simply leave your mark. A visiting or business card is not appropriate here. It provides a color to the image.
As a person, you need to choose clean, ironed clothing that need to gel with your personality. As a woman, you need to not put on as well much make- up on the initial date as you may come out as as well worried or too anxious. Apply just a little makeup and also use your favored perfume.
Scientific studies demonstrate that girls respond to your smile's action rather than it is or white your teeth really are. The act of smiling is exactly what demonstrates to other people thatyou're confident, open and friendly. The act of smiling is what triggers the great feelings in women.
When I date together with the intent of union, as soon as I see destructive behaviors, I understand I need to terminate the relationship and move on. Despite convincing explanations that are persuasive and apologies, this person is not likely to change. He needs probably a schedule years of treatment, all which are unlikely to happen, and a relationship with God. When he thinks is obedience or the love of a good girl, if I leave, he'll simply operate to replace me as quickly as possible. It is haughty and dysfunctional for me to think I can" fix" him. It is vastly from my pay grade.
Packaging The Product The initial step to thinking like a marketer is to realize which you will need to start with the merchandise( in this case, you) which you are attempting to move( i. e. get laid, get dates, what- have- you) . The real key to marketing a product is not the product itself, it's in how you make it appeal to the possible customer, as any Men enthusiast will tell you. This is why packaging is indeed important; your merchandise might be great- you're an wonderful person that anyone would be lucky to date- but if you introduce it choose something different and individuals will be turned off. Your profile your display name, your photographs, your vital data along with your words- - are all a part of your packing and even small flaws in that packaging can make potential customers( dates) go off in search of goods that hit them as more attractive.
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HerWow that sounds fine! And you are going to have xmas holiday off too? Me: I work in the home, so I'mconstantly'off' so to speak. . This trip was sort of a vacation get together haha.
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General Psychology - PSY-150
Welcome to the General Psychology Website!
General Psychology - PSY-150
3 Lecture / 0 Lab / 3 Credit Hours
Instructor Steve Withrow Office Location Room 211
Davis Hall (inside 209)
Office Hours by appointment Office Address Guilford Tech. Community College
PO BOX 309
Jamestown, NC 27282
Office Phone (336) 334-4822 ext.50575 Office E-mail [email protected] (put psy150 and your section number in the subject line) Ambiguous subject identifications will be deleted as Spam. Department Secretary Phyllis Townsend (336)334-4822 ext50535
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course offers an in depth study of concepts and methods of Psychology as a behavioral science with special attention to personal application. Topics include research methodology, biological bases of behavior, perception, motivation and emotion, learning and memory, personality, child development, psychological influences on health, abnormal behavior, and therapeutic interventions.
Prerequisites: Satisfactory score on the reading placement test
REQUIRED READING: Feldman, Essentials of Understanding Psychology
And: Pryor, K., (1999). Don't Shoot the Dog (for sell in the college bookstore)
And: Smothermon, R., (1997). Winning Through Enlightenment (Difficult to buy: On reserve in the Jamestown Campus LRC)
You may purchase your textbook at the bookstore on campus or you may go to Amazon.com.
Computer; Internet Access; E-mail;
You may need the following software which can be found at the attached link:
Firefox Web Browser http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/personal.html
Behavior on the web: After logging into the course on Moodle, please read the Netiquette Policy in the left hand column of the webpage.
Communication: Outside of class, you may contact me by telephone (336 334-4822 ext50575), email ([email protected]), or by making an appointment and coming to my office (Davis Hall 211, inside Davis Hall 209).
Email Turnaround Policy: If you email me, I will make every effort to get back to you within 48hour.
1. Students will be expected to develop an understanding of the basic concepts and principles of psychology. To reach this goal, students are encouraged to define concepts in their own words rather than merely rote memorization of textbook definitions. Also the course will emphasize the "How?" and "Why?".
2. Students should be able to communicate their understanding to others clearly and accurately both orally and in writing. This applies not only to communicating what they understand inside of class, but it also applies to communicating their knowledge to others outside of class.
3. As much as possible, students will be asked to understand how these concepts and principles relate to their everyday life and the lives of those around them. Topics covered will emphasize the similarities and variations related to age, gender, religion, racial, ethnic, socioeconomic and other human groupings. In relation to this goal, it helps if students repeatedly ask themselves, "How can I use this information?" or "What can I do differently in my life?".
4. Since some of you may be psychology majors, students are expected to be aware of how these concepts were developed and some of the prominent persons responsible for this development. The course will promote a questioning, scientific attitude toward the information presented rather than uncritical acceptance of textbook and lecture material.
COURSE OBJECTIVES: Upon successful completion of this course the student should be able to:
1. Assess the basic methods used for collecting data in the field of psychology, with some of the advantages and disadvantages of these methods and critically scrutinize elementary research as presented by the public media.
2. Distinguish between the occupational opportunities in psychology and associated fields.
3. Apply your understanding of issues of critical thinking and deficiencies inherent in normal human reasoning.
4. Examine research on basic nervous system anatomy with particular emphasis on the causes and implications of brain damage.
5. Analyze different states of consciousness with attention to disturbances in normal achievement of those states.
6. Examine perceptual distortions inherent to humans and grasp their influence on judgment and decision making.
7. Utilize the concepts of memory to personally improve retention and retrieval of information.
8. Assess the qualities needed to construct good tests, the intent of intelligence testing, and factors that may influence intelligence, particularly from a developmental perspective.
9. Examine the basic effects of heredity, maturation, and environmental factors on individuals throughout their lifespan, with discussion of some of the common developmental problems and some possible remedies for these problems.
10. Apply methods of learning to intentionally influence behavior, of yourself, and others.
11. Analyze some of the basic problems occurring with mental disorders, including those at a neurotic level, psychoses, and personality disorders, whether organic and/or psychogenic in origin.
12. Examine the basic principles of individual and group social interaction, with some of the problems in this interaction, including topic of nonverbal communication, attitude formation, conformity, social influence, and prejudice.
Methodology: Reading, video, research, internet searches, and e-mail.
Student Learning Outcomes are visible in Moodle (upper right side of Moodle Psy150 course webpage) and are linked to the average of all chapter quizzes.
Classroom Assessment of Learning: Attend class regularly and on time, prepared to participate (makeup work may be required if you miss class time, or have more than 3 tardies, no matter what the reason). Attending class is critical to your success in this course.Chapter Quizzes: For each chapter, a quiz will be posted in Moodle. The quiz will consist of 10 questions randomly drawn from a test question pool. You will have 10 minutes to complete the test. You may retake the test as many times as you like to get the highest grade you desire. But, each time you retake the test, a new set of questions will be randomly drawn from the question pool. If you retake the test repeatedly, you will eventually be exposed to all of the questions in the pool. The last score you receive is the score that will be recorded. (33 1/3% of your grade) You must complete the 1st chapter quiz during the census period, usually during the first week of class.
Smothermon and Pryor Reading Notes: Read the assigned chapters by the assigned dates, producing 2 page of notes total for each assigned reading. When taking notes you should not copy from the book or summary. Paraphrase! Put it into your own words. Outline form with use of key words is the best method.Periodic Assignments: Twelve times during the semester, you will be asked to do an assignment, such as; go to a particular website and complete an exercise or process, attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, or research a particular problem. Each assignment will be posted on an Internet assignment web page for this course. Assignment submitted late may be reduced by one letter grade for every week or partial week you are late. You may submit these assignment as typed or hand written (if legible). Do not email any assignments!(33 1/3% of your grade)
Complete a 3 page research paper (plus reference page). Your research paper must be 3 pages minimum, plus reference page, typed, double-spaced (approx. 250 words per page) on a psychological topic of interest to you, that must be approved by your instructor. A 3 page paper is small, so the topic needs to be very narrowly focused. A minimum of 5 references (published within the last 10 years), all coming from professional journals (authored and referenced sources), must be used and properly cited APA style in the paper and on the reference page. All newspapers, encyclopedias, books, and magazines (except professional journals) are unacceptable as sources. See this website for information on APA style: http://www.psych-central.com/.
A link on the assignment page contains addition information about this assignment. (33 1/3% of your grade)
Time Expectation for study in this course: According to a study published by the Chronicle of Higher Education, 48% of faculty members expect students to do six or more hours of homework every week. Studying 6 or more hours per week is an appropriate amount of time you should devote to study of this course when it is offered in a 16 week, normal semester format. In the summer, 5 week format, that works out to 19 plus hours per week.
Assignment Due Dates and Late Work Policy: Assignment due dates are located at the assignment link off of the Angelfire web index. Work submitted more than 1 week past the assigned date on the assignment page will be subject to a letter grade reduction for each week it is late.
Acceptable Formates for Assignments: All assignments may be typed or hand written, with the exception of the research paper, which must be typed. Since this class meets face to face, only a physical copy of the work is acceptable. Do not email your assignments.
Any written homework must be submitted in class, or at my office in Davis Hall, room 211(inside room 209). Be sure to put your course number and section number on all homework. Do not submit homework by email!
Every effort will be made to grade papers within one week of submission in class.
Grading Rubric: A detail grading rubric by which you homework submissions will be judged in on the Angelfire index page for this course.
College Grading Scale: 90 - 100 A
80 - 89 B
70 - 79 C
60 - 69 D
Quality of Instruction Statement: The GTCC faculty members are committed to providing quality instruction. If there is a concern about the instruction provided, treatment of an individual or a group of students, or professional conduct of instructors, FIRST see your instructor, THEN the department chair, THEN the division chair, or read the description of Students' Rights and Responsibilities which can be found in the Student Handbook / Calendar.
TUTORING CENTER: The Tutoring Center provides free tutoring to currently enrolled GTCC students who seek assistance with their coursework. Tutors are usually currently enrolled students with an "A" or "B" in the course they wish to tutor, and have received a recommendation of an instructor. Any student wishing to receive tutoring or become a tutor should contact the Tutoring Center staff in room 100-102 of the Health Careers Building.
WITHDRAWAL/DROP POLICY: At anytime prior to the deadline dates established, the instructor may withdraw a student from class because of inappropriate academic behavior such as but not limited to cheating or plagiarism. However, one should not assume that they will automatically be dropped from the course if they stop communicating. If a student can no longer participate, or for any reason must drop the course, it is his/her responsibility to officially withdraw. Failure to withdraw without completing the required paperwork will result in an "F".
Disability Services: If you have a disability that may affect your academic performance and are seeking accommodations, it is your responsibility to inform the disAbility Access Services Counselor as soon as possible. It is important to request accommodations early enough to give disAbility Access Services adequate time to consider your request and recommend reasonable accommodations. Instructors will provide necessary accommodations based on the recommendations of disAbility Access Services. disAbility Access Services are available at the following locations:
To, certain individuals, some materials on this site maybe inaccessible, to those using assisted technology. In the event that you encounter anything that is inaccessible, contact me at: 336 334-4822 ext.50575, or [email protected], I will work with DisAbility Services to make sure you have an appropriate accommodation or a meaningful alternative.
Last Updated: Wednesday, February 15, 2012<
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WATCH | Musicians take back power from politicians with 'The People's Version' of 'Thuma Mina'
A group of local musicians are reclaiming a phrase that politics borrowed and then failed to live up to
It's a phrase that entered the South African lexicon on May 25 last year when President Cyril Ramaphosa gave his inauguration speech, declaring, "Having taken the path of office I am saying yes, South Africa thuma mina (send me)."
At that moment he became the "Thuma Mina" president. There was genuine inspiration in the words. Those of us who grew up on comic-book heroes thought we understood what he was saying: "If there's a problem, send me!" But no president really behaves like a comic-book hero, despite our eternal optimism, and soon the phrase started to sound a little flat.
It was shortly after speaking to singer and musician Vusi Mahlasela about the recent release of his live album, Shebeen Queen, that I came into contact with Lance McCormack, who's been involved, through Sony Entertainment, with some great South African musicians for years.
"Did Vusi tell you about the current project he's involved in?" asked McCormack. "It's a project to reclaim Thuma Mina from politics and give it back to its rightful owner: Hugh Masekela and the people," he said with a laugh. "We've put together a helluva team to do it."
Remember anthems like Band Aid's We Are The World and USA for Africa's Heal The World, which featured some of the most famous artists of the time - Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner, Billy Joel and many more? More than 35 years after these anthems sold millions of copies around the world to raise funds for starving people in Ethiopia (which was experiencing a terrible drought at the time), SA is doing something similar - getting a great group of artists together to make a statement.
The difference is that in our case, we're doing it for ourselves.
WATCH | The music video for 'Thuma Mina: The People's Version'.
To re-release the song Thuma Mina, written and first performed by Masekela in 2002 Hugh Masekela, an upbeat cacophony of some of our most loved musicians have come together, calling themselves The Masekela All-Stars. Vocalists include the legendary Abigail Kubeka and Mahlasela, with the younger generation of stars represented by Thandiswa Mazwai, Zolani Mahola and J'Something.
Masekela's nephew Selema Writes was roped in to add a new rap section that calls on South Africans to take action against gender-based violence.
"When he was alive, my uncle started the Hugh Masekela Heritage Foundation to preserve and promote African heritage represented through art, languages, music and cultural practices," said Writes. "He wanted to create a space for the safekeeping and proliferation of our heritage as South Africans and to protect the legacy of what it means to be an African in these modern times."
Writes said that for him, this project was a continuation of the mission of his uncle's foundation.
"There's been a strong attack throughout history on African cultures. African people have been oppressed as slaves, had their culture dominated by colonialism and been sidelined by the Western canon. My uncle's undertaking with the foundation was an honourable and timeous one, which is mirrored in the way he made his music - it celebrates the music, lyrics and languages from our various cultures that unite us as a nation."
The song starts with the lyrics, "I wanna be there when the people start to turn it around," said Writes. "They suggest a responsibility to help our people overcome the historical, political and socioeconomic issues that we're facing as a country. The song references Aids, violence, poverty and gender-based violence and highlights themes of self-sacrifice, individual responsibility and the importance of a personal change in our mindsets, the protection of women and children and a more balanced and equal society. All of those things are more important than ever at the moment."
Writes said the recording ran smoothly despite the fact that so many artists and musicians were involved. Masekela's last touring band, Johan Mthethwa, Fana Zulu, Cameron Ward, Godfrey Mgcina and Leeroy Sauls were involved, plus there was the entire horn section from Marcus Wyatt's Bombshelter Beast.
"As a trumpet player there's such a connection with Bra Hugh," said Wyatt. "Over the years I've often spoken to Selema about music and about Bra Hugh. To be asked to play on this project was a no-brainer. Who'd say no to Bra Hugh, even when he's not around?
In the original song there was a strong statement about solidarity, about wanting to help and to be in a position to help. During this crazy pandemic, it resonates now more than it has in a long timeMarcus Wyatt of Bombshelter Beast
"In the original song there was a strong statement about solidarity, about wanting to help and to be in a position to help. During this crazy pandemic, it resonates now more than it has in a long time. If more people could approach life in the same way I'm sure South Africa would be a better place."
The new arrangement was by South African Music Awards winner Zwai Bala and was produced by Grammy winner JB Arthur with the help of Robbie Brozin's Flame Studios, a recording hub being built beneath the ramparts of the Old Fort on Constitution Hill in Johannesburg. McCormack is the studio director.
The project to record what's being called The People's Version was initiated by Constitution Hill in partnership with the Hugh Masekela Foundation.
"The song is a kind of anthem about ubuntu," said Arthur. "We're so in need of a pulling together in this country. We have a leadership vacuum and a void of moral responsibility. In a way, it's more dangerous than what the country has been through before because it eats at the soul of the nation."
Arthur said he sees the song as a reclamation of the phrase.
"Politicians, not just here, but throughout the world (there are horrendous examples of it in the US) take phrases from creative arts and make them part of their own agendas without any thought of what's behind the original idea and the phrase. We need to acknowledge what the words really mean - so much more so because the leaders in the higher echelons of our government have said so much and done so little.
"That's the essence of the tragedy of leaders using a phrase like thuma mina, which has such power in terms of its potential to change what's wrong with society. When it's used glibly as a slogan we should be outraged. The message of the song is deep and very wide. It speaks to the heart of our society. It challenges everyone to participate, not just with words but with deeds and actions. Exactly, ironically, what the government isn't doing when they say the words. It's an insult to use the message of a phrase like this, in the context of Hugh Masekela's song. It allows politicians to justify their abdication of responsibility. That's just not OK."
Arthur said they decided to add Writes' rap section to deliver a hard-hitting, condensed version of the original. "He's so connected to the song's heritage being Hugh's nephew, his blood," said Arthur. "For the video we had Bombshelter Beast marching with their brass instruments on the ramparts of The Fort at Con Hill. It symbolises the power of the streets."
Singer Zolani Mahola said it was amazing to be at Constitution Hill: "It felt like the past, present and future all coming together," she said. "I feel like part of a long line of strong people who used their voices, like Bra Hugh and Mandela, to fill these halls. I feel connected to the youth who feel they don't have a voice. I want to tell them, you do have a voice - you need to use it."
Selema said he stayed behind after his recording session to hang out with "Ma Abigail, Bra Vusi and Sis Thandiswa - these absolute legends of South African music who have contributed in such an enormous way to our collective heritage. They get the meaning of the song, which asks: how do we deal with others as humans? How do we see and respect each other's differences?"
Kubeka, who was with Masekela when he first recorded the song, said on being asked what he would think of this new version: "He's smiling in his grave and saying, 'That's it. I did it and I'm doing it again'."
According to professor of theology Tinyiko Maluleke, "Masekela was one of the most astute interpreters of the social issues of his times. The themes of poverty, HIV and Aids, drug addiction, violence, abuse, migration, dictatorship and hope in his music were a direct result of his sensitivity towards the marginalised and his alertness to social issues."
LISTEN | Hugh Masekela's original 'Thuma Mina (Send Me)'.
Writes said his uncle embraced a lot of different South African and African sounds and fused them together in his own way to convey the creativity and particularity of his own voice. "He combined Sophiatown jazz, traditional music from Nigeria, mbaqanga - sounds from all over Africa, and blended them together to produce a unique brand of jazz, with a message."
Thuma Mina (Send Me), said Maluleke, was originally a church song. "It speaks to popular themes in African churches that have stood the test of time - recruiting others to a changed lifestyle or evangelisation, taking individual responsibility, personal change (repentance) and personal sacrifice," he said.
It's about "a willingness to be sent to carry out a task or mission, and the capacity to muster the obedience and discipline necessary to accept being sent. The words are based on a recognition of the power of personal change and agency, the courage to choose a noble cause."
In the SA of the Jacob Zuma era, Maluleke said, "people no longer wanted to say 'Send Me' unless there was something in it for them".
The collective talent that's produced this song said they want it to symbolise a change from that way of thinking.
"The new arrangement is all about paying it forward," said producer Zwai Bala. "It reminds us that, as a nation, we are still together."
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5 Best Ratcheting Wrench Sets of 2020 – Reviews & Buying Guide
Ratcheting Wrenches take the pain out of unscrewing a fastener on a long, threaded post since you don’t have to constantly reseat them like a wrench. They’re also more convenient than a socket wrench in many cases, as you don’t have to sort through dozens of sockets to find the right one for the bolt in question.
Getting one of these sets can be a great way to speed up your automotive work, as well as other tasks around the house. It’s easy to get a little overwhelmed when shopping online, due to the plentiful options, and how hard it can be to tell if something is a good deal.
We’ve assembled this list of reviews to address this problem. You can get a good sense of these sets before you buy so that you know you’re getting good value for your money. We also included a buyer’s guide, so you can learn about ratcheting wrench sets before you buy.
Comparison of our 5 Favorites in 2020
|Best Overall||GearWrench 9416 16 Piece||
|Mountain (MTNRM6) 5 Piece||
|Best Value||ToolGuards 22 Pieces B01MT6PDN0||
|Craftsman 20 Piece Ratcheting Wrench Set||
|Neiko 03114A 5-Piece Set||
Top 5 Best Ratcheting Wrench Sets
1. GearWrench 16-Piece Ratcheting Wrench Set – Best Overall
The GearWrench 9416 16 piece ratcheting wrench set is a great set for people who want to get a lot of wrench sizes, but still get good quality for the price. The rachets in this kit come with 72-tooth ratchet ends, which means that they can turn bolts with as little as five degrees of motion. That makes them great for tight spaces where you’re not going to have enough room to use the other, plain wrench end. The precision fit on both sides of these wrenches is designed to move the pressure of each turn off the bolt’s points, which lowers the pressure and reduces fastener rounding.
Each wrench is made from a steel alloy, which gives them excellent strength and durability and finished with chrome, which is polished to a high sheen and does a good job resisting corrosion. This set also comes with a wrench holder, which you can use to store your wrenches between use. This set doesn’t come with flex heads or a slight bend in the shaft, which allow for working around nearby bolts. However, given the value in the other areas, this set is a great choice for most people.
2. Mountain 5-Piece Ratchet Wrench Set
The Mountain MTNRM6 5 piece ratcheting wrench set comes with five wrenches, but each of those comes with two heads, so you get ten different sizes mounted on just five shafts. These models come with flex heads so that you can bend the shaft upwards up to 45-degrees and work around nearby bolts or cables. Or, you can flip the wrench over to use it as a straight wrench, since the head only flexes one way. The ratchets feature 90-tooth heads, which means you can advance it with movements as small as 4-degrees, which makes this one of the best models on the market for working in tight spaces.
The handles are extra-long, which gets you more torque with the same amount of force applied, which can make tough jobs much easier, and loose bolts will come off with a minimum of efforts. They’re also well-made and tend to last a long time, even when used a lot. Since they have so much upside, you’re going to want to use them a lot. The only flaw is that they’re a bit pricey on a per-head basis. However, the quality is very good, so this is a worthy investment.
3. ToolGuards Ratcheting-Wrench Set – Best Value
The ToolGuards 22 Pieces B01MT6PDN0 is our choice for best value. It comes with 22 wrenches with ratchet ends, and costs far less than the first two entries on our list. These are made from chrome vanadium steel, which is one of the strongest steels on the market and means these tools will hold up well to both use and abuse. The ratchets have 72 teeth, which means they advance about every five-degrees, which means little motions are enough to get a job done, which makes these wrenches good for small spaces.
This set also comes with a carrying case, which folds up for easy transportation, and folds out to reveal the ratchets, each of which sits in its own pocket, making it easy to keep them organized. You get 11 metric, and 11 SAE wrenches, you’ll have a wide variety of tools to choose from when working. The one downside is that the shafts are relatively short, which means that you have to work a bit harder to get tight bolts loose. However, this is a great choice for people who need both SAE and metric wrenches and who want to get great value for their money.
4. Craftsman Ratcheting Wrench Set (20 pcs)
The Craftsman 20 Piece Ratcheting Wrench Set is a good example of a toolset that is perfectly fine on its own but pales in comparison to other sets that are available at similar prices. This set comes with 20 wrenches. Ten are metric and ten SAE, so you can use the variety that you need. The ratchets are good, coming with 72 teeth, which means motions as small as five degrees will advance the bolt. The quality is a little questionable, but it comes with the Craftsman Forever Guarantee, so if you do have any problems you can exchange the broken tool.
However, these wrenches don’t have tilt heads, nor do they have any offset, so they’re not going to be good for spaces where there’s a lot of bolts or cables that could interfere with turning the wrench. They’re also not reversible via a lever on the ratchet end, which means you have to take the wrench off and flip it over if you want to change directions. There’s certainly very little wrong with this set, but the fact of the matter is that you could spend about the same amount and get far better value.
5. Neiko 5-Piece Ratcheting-Wrench Set
The Neiko 03114A 5-Piece Set does have some upside. The wrenches are double-headed, so while you only get five shafts, you get ten differently-sized ratchets. This set is metric, so if you’re looking for SAE, you’re out of luck. The shafts are also relatively-long, which gives you get leverage to get stuck bolts off. However, this set has serious problems with quality control. Some kits work just fine, but far too many of them feature wrenches that break on the first use.
A common point of failure is the joint on the flex head, which seems to snap under not just heavy force, but moderate force, too. That’s a big problem, but more concerningly, some users report that the shaft itself broke near the middle, which is an unacceptable flaw in a wrench of any kind. Using this set is likely to be a frustrating experience, as working with all broken tools can be. Add to that the fact that this set isn’t that cheap, and you have a recipe for a low value. While you could buy this set, you can get better value for a lower price with other sets on this list.
We hope that our reviews have already taught you some things about ratcheting wrench sets. If you’re looking to learn more about these sets before you buy, be sure to check out this buyer’s guide. It’s designed to teach a beginner everything they need to know before they start shopping, but it’s also a nice refresher for anyone who has bought before but wants to get up to date on what makes for a great ratcheting wrench set.
When it comes to ratchets, value should be your number one concern. In this instance, we don’t mean durability, though that is an important factor. Instead, you should be considering ease of use and the ability of each ratcheting wrench to adapt to different situations. A versatile set has far more value than a similar set at the same price that is only useful for one or two tasks, so it’s important to keep versatility in mind while you shop.
Ratchets with swiveling heads give you the power to change the angle at which you rotate the shaft, which can be useful for working around bolts or other nearby obstructions. Straight wrenches don’t have this ability and are worth less because of that factor.
Likewise, ratcheting wrenches that are reversible with a level or button are worth more than those that must be turned over to reverse. Features like these can make your experience far better, so it’s worth it to spend a bit more to get them.
While versatility has a bigger impact on value, durability is also important. While others would rank it first, it’s important to keep in mind that durability can only be in one of two categories: strong enough to get the job done, or not. Since there’s no middle ground, you’re either getting a good tool or a horrible one, so there’s not a lot of variation in this category.
If you want to make sure that you’re getting a good tool, pay attention to the kind of metal that the wrenches are made from. Vanadium steel coated with chrome is one of the best materials for tools on the market today. Adding vanadium to steel greatly increases its strength, while the chrome coating gives it a good amount of corrosion resistance.
Be wary of sets that only advertise “a steel alloy” when describing what they’re made from. Not all steel alloys are made equally, so you’ll need to do further research on that set before you buy.
Other features unrelated to the wrenches can add value to a ratcheting wrench set, and justify a high price, or make a lower-priced model a great deal.
The most common thing you’ll find in these sets is a storage or transportation apparatus. If it’s just storage, that means it’s a shelf or a small box, which makes these sets better suited to a garage or shop, where easy access to them will be apricated, and they won’t get in the way if they take up space. On the other hand, it’s harder to bring those wrenches to an offsite location, which can be a pain if you don’t know the fastener size ahead of time.
If it’s a transportation case or bag, you’re getting a set that’s good for taking on the road, and fantastic for situations where you know you’re going to have to try a couple of sizes before you find the right one. Cases make it easy to have all sizes with you, without making it a pain to carry them around by hand, and also do a generally better job of keeping the wrenches out of the elements, which can degrade their chrome surfaces.
Which set is right for you?
No one set is going to be the right thing for all people. Instead, you should be looking for the set that is right for you. While many people start with a price in mind, it’s wise to start instead with the features that you need to have. Once you have a shortlist of ratcheting wrench sets that have those features, it’s safe to get the cheapest set off that list.
That way, you’re getting a good financial deal, but you also won’t be wishing in the future that you had spent a little more to get something a bit nicer, or that didn’t have a feature that you needed.
The GearWrench 9416 16 piece ratcheting wrench set features five-degree ratchet movements, a precision fit that keeps you from rounding off bolts, and a quality wrench holder, earning it the top place on our list. The Mountain MTNRM6 5 piece comes with 90-tooth ratchets, making them the best on our list in that regard, but their price ultimately keeps them out of first. The ToolGuards 22 Pieces B01MT6PDN0 features sturdy and strong chrome vanadium steel wrenches, and comes at a low price, making it our choice for best value. The Craftsman 20 Piece Ratcheting Wrench Set is an acceptable kit, but it lacks any kind of offset, which means it’s not great for tight spaces like other sets on our list. The Neiko 03114A 5-Piece Set features serious quality-control issues and is expensive relative to its quality, which drops it to the last place.
Hopefully, our reviews and our buyer’s guide have helped you figure out what to look for when shopping for ratcheting wrench sets. You should now be able to use that information to make a great choice for your wallet and find a set that you’ll love using.
Posts that you may find interesting:
- Comparison of our 5 Favorites in 2020
- Top 5 Best Ratcheting Wrench Sets
- Buyer’s Guide
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This is the Nhelen's terrian basicly , just more buildings .etc,
There is a Parking Garage & a building on the side of it with a little lot , That is for Tow Companies, The lot is for Tow Companies to park their Wreckers, and the Garage is for the tow companies to park their Repo'd / Wrecked Cars.
This is not completely done, but have fun and test out what is done of it :P
PM me if you need help.
**NOTE: If you have the nhelen terrain map in DocRoRTerrain , Please move it to somewhere else, as this one has the same name .. it is not required, but if you dont you will see two "North St. Helen" Maps in side the game, in this case select the one that shows "nhcustom.terrn"
It says Errors found with some sort of truck, but there really isnt. i tested it on my two computers and it worked fine.
DS9 Map Submarineworld 01
The first map I made for the submarine..
this one is nothing special, but to keep it for my selfe does not make much more sense than publishing it
..just some canions, islands and some underwater stuff to explore..
DS9 Map Submarine-World 06: The Dive King Challenge
The first Submarine-Race in ROR
Angelscript race map with working API
Thanks to Lepes and Box5diesel for the usage of the Torus-Meshes from the NSH-Airrace (LUA, RIP)
They look awsome under water - don't they?
Rules: you may mod DS9 (or any other submarine) as much as you like - tuning allowed as long as the vehicle name clearly identifies itselfe as a tuned version..
=> only full qualified mods with unique ID are allowed..
Otherwise you have to use the default vehicles (DS9 or MK2 or what ever comes up in future)..
I really hope, that this leads to a huge flotilla of specialized submarines..
remember DS9 is OpenSource - so go ahaed - mod it and publish your own submarine(s)!!
Rockisland was inspired by the 1998 game Viper racing developed by MGI more info can be found in the readme, i have also included my enbseries settings in this zip, read the readme for more info on that.
i hope you enjoy it and please post any bugs or questions in my rockisland Thread here Rockisland-from-viper-racing or pm me. thanks
there is also an off road track and a drift track.
In the mountains
This is my first Terrain made in L3TD. It has long road around mountains. It´s ideal for testing your brakes. It changes color from lighter to darker when you play with time. Also have spawned Scania Wrecker.
Authors: masfilip (terrain heighmap, object placing)
This is PsychoDog's Caralynea Desert Offroad Park.
I've had this on my hard drive for ages as it was one of the first terrains I created. It's a desert park which has been turned into an offroad playground by humans. I tried to get a mix of natural-style features and manmade-style features. It was one of the first terrains I created, so it's not brilliant, but it's worth having a look.
It's not visually amazing either, but it's great fun for thrashing an offroad vehicle round. It's quite big and has a lot of features so you shouldn't get bored.
Any mods will be welcomed, especially for the visuals as I never spent a lot of time on the visuals for this terrain.
Credits to LJFHutch for the shelter. Credits to Donoteat for the ramp. Credits to Sneer for the trees used in the terrain (out of the F1 test track).
This is the terrain that you should use in my server and any other server that uses this terrain. The standard Rockton County BM terrain will not work with my server.
This is an edit to Brickman’s Rockton County BM terrain. I really wanted to make a Rockton server, but there were a few problems holding me back. I decided that I would make the changes myself, considering that I do have a good grasp on making a
terrain, although I do not have the patience nor the time to make one of my own.
Here are the changes to this map:
• Took away trees (this terrain is for a server, and its best to reduce lag as much as possible)
• Changed the name of the .terrn file to work with the server
Although it doesn’t seem like a made a lot of changes, these are instrumental in making this terrain work on a server.
Because this map is so big, you may still experience lag. If you do, there isn’t much I can do to help you. This is a big map with a lot of objects, and that can severely hurt your framerate.
I give all credit for making this terrain to the original owners of this terrain. The same goes for the creators of the objects used in this terrain. I in no way am stealing or purposely plagiarizing any of the owner’s original work. And no, I did not get permission. You want permission? Here’s your permission: “Since it is not officially my terrain, you can modify without my permission.” This is from the original Credits description file that is still in this zip, written by, I assume, Brickman.. Let’s give a big round of applause to all of the contributors and makers of this terrain.
It pretty simple, but it's quite fun seeing how far you can drive the cars into the water before you stall them.
Also another fun point is trying to jump over the Rig-A-Deal. It can be done with Box5's Gravedigger monster truck, haven't tried it with many other vehicles but I'm sure it's not too difficult for most springy trucks.
The terrain looks best with the highest water settings you can get. If you just use base water settings you don't get the same effect.
Since the main checkpoint run doesn't actually have a clear start point, I'll explain (very simply) here:
You need to drive along the narrow floating platform, turn left onto the main platform, and the start checkpoint is the one you see straight ahead of you. Drop off the platform and just follow them round until you return at the Rig-A-Deal. Just thought I'd explain that otherwise someone would message me saying my terrain didn't make sense like the last one I uploaded.
A North St Helens High Tide Flood Mod. Please remove and back-up the original as it may interfere.
Link to further discussion: North-St-Helens-High-Tide-Flood-Mod
UPDATE: Added author name. Please re-download and replace.
RoR 0.4.0.7+ version! Will not work in any version below. This is a "beta", so expect errors.
IMPORTANT!!! My trains will be updated for RoR 0.4.0.7+ soon, in the meantime, rename the *.truck or *.load-files of any rail equipment to *.train and remove the two *.skin files. This way you can use the new trainspawner.
- Heavily modified Flatmap with railroad line, not so flat any more ;-)
- Two versions: Normal with manually operable switches (use your mouse) and FPS with simplified switches
- All track pieces included, you can use them to build your own map
- Working buffer stops
- A nice train spawner: circle in the front is for locos, circle in the back for wagons
- Alpha splatting on terrain
- New textures
- Updated trainspawner for usage of *.train files
- Simple vegetation
- Some simple gravel roads
- Implemented the train Hall that comes with my Demag ZKKE
- Some minor tweaks
- Switches are controlled by F-Buttons: F1 left, F2 straight ahead, F3 right. Click here for a tutorial
- Be careful when you operate the switches while driving a long train above multiple switches, derailments may occur
Under certain conditions derailments may occur, so be warned.
My special thanks goes to ulteq for his great work on RoR itself!
- sputnik_1: optimizing, texturing, switches, buffer stops, additional track layout, heightmap
- donoteat: track and station meshes, track layout
- BigBoy: much help and testing, train spawner, heightmap help, catenary
- Techwolf32: original map
- The Inviteds: testing
All content is for use in Rigs of Rods only! Read the copyright file included in the zip file!
It features a very wide range of roads at least 20km of it so you'll be driving through Beautiful scenery
Massive logging company
15km of dirt roads
3 versions all with different skies.
non animated creatures find them in the sea
and ALOT more!!!
Tatanovitch for the great skies
Box5Diesel for some farm objects
Mirfi for the romanian buildings
Lepes for the depo's
Towpro for being a great beta tester
Nadeox1 for being a great beta tester
Zanjani13 for being a great beta tester
silver and bronze donators for being pretty useless beta testers, thanks. :|
PrT Audiman for placing, re-texturing, organizing, editing, creating the map, and everything else
2 pieces of road are way stretched, when you see them dont drive on them, its not a problem its two pieces of road lol
airport taxiway is at a weird angle
airport hanger has a step in it
maybe a few depo's are at weird angles but that is it
Hello ! This is my first map, i have made it in L3DT.
I've called it "Trailer Island" because it's a nice map for test your Offroad and make videos with it ( If you like it ).
It has a truck spawner and the rest is pure offroad. The sea water is not very high so it is very easy to travel in an off-road.
Sorry for some grammar mistakes
I Hope Do You Like It
This is another version I made for Verniocity. It is compatible with the other one (the original one )
Anyway this version have the city with flood roads. A lot of objects are destroyed and there are trees, bus stops on the road and many other things!
-Houses by Yodel714 and TheRock1990;
-Other buildings by Redeye, PORTALized and TheRock1990;
-Trees by Mirfi + one little modification by me (I take them from one of the Pedropp's maps);
-Heightmap, Texture Map and some object, object placing by me;
-The fallen log is by LJFHutch;
-Some of the new textures for this mod by CG Textures.
NOW WITH ALPHA SPLATTING
REMEMBER: YOU NEED TO DELETE CACHE FOR MAKE THIS WORKING CORRECTLY!!!
IMPORTANT: For a better perfomance of the map you should activate the particles sistem, waves and good water settings. This map is full of trees and the water make the map FPS killer, so it's not recommended for potato/toasters computer. Sorry.
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This guide to the top venomous snakes in Philippines will reveal some of the most feared serpents of all in this land on the edge of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean. It’s got nine specimens that you’ll probably want to be sure you avoid as you hop between the Chocolate Hills of Bohol and the talcum-powder beaches of Siargao.
Yep…from formidable pit vipers that can spit their venom up to two meters across the jungle to classic snake adversaries like the potent king cobra, our selection offers a cross section of creatures that have the power to ruin your vacation in one fell swoop.
You’ll also notice that there are some on this list of the most venomous snakes in Philippines that are native only to the island nation itself. They tend to be rare or endangered elapids that not all that much is known about, often with no available antivenom to balance out a bite. Eek!
Wagler’s pit viper
The first of the vipers on this list is present not just in the Philippines but right across Southeast Asia. Yep, you’ll find this one in the hills of Vietnam and in the humid forests of coastal Thailand, too. They mainly like to live in lowland areas, no higher than 1,500 meters above sea level, particularly in dense coast woods and mangroves.
The male and the female of the species look very different. In fact, they look so different that the untrained eye would probably put them down as two different snakes altogether. The female has a yellowish dot pattern on top, with a dusky brownish green on the underbelly. The male is typically a bright, jungle green and much thinner overall.
Not too much is known about the venom of a Wagler’s pit viper. Certain elements of it are used in cosmetics creams to fend off wrinkles, though the efficacy of that isn’t proved. The good news is that it reacts well to viper antivenoms. However, leave a bite untreated and you’re looking at necrosis of the flesh and potential death.
Equatorial spitting cobra
The first of a few cobra species on this list of the most venomous snakes in Philippines, the Equatorial spitting cobra certainly looks the part. It’s got the famous cobra fan neck, along with a dark and brooding color scheme that’s black and grey from head to tail. They usually grow to around one meter in length and like to live in moderately wooded areas below 1,500 meters above sea level.
There are two ways the Equatorial spitting cobra can attack. One is by conventional bite. The other is by spitting its venom. The first is the most dangerous of all, as it means direct injection of the toxins into the bloodstream, leading to severe cognitive failures and potential death in as little as 30 minutes. Being spat at is hardly fun, either, as cobra venom is thought to be corrosive enough to cause blindness for life.
Lake Taal snake
You’ll have to travel to the soaring volcanic caldera of Taal Volcano to risk an encounter with this one. The species is thought to be one of only two totally freshwater sea snakes on the planet, and is solely found in Lake Taal, the glimmering blue body of water that surrounds the mighty volcano south of Manila.
It’s thought that Lake Taal snakes started their evolutionary journey some 400 years ago, when Lake Taal itself was cut off from the open seas by a mega eruption. As the waters gradually started to become less salty, the sea snakes that were present were forced to adapt and change. Viola: You’ve got the new sub-species seen today.
Sadly, these serpents didn’t evolve to become any less dangerous. Nope, they are still rated as some of the most venomous snakes in the Philippines, with a combo of toxins that’s similarly fatal to their ocean-going ancestors. Today, Lake Taal snakes are rated as Vulnerable by the IUCN, and its thought that their habitat is at risk from overdevelopment and increasing pollution levels in the water.
Yellow-bellied sea snake
You probably don’t have to worry too much about the yellow-bellied sea snake. This is a totally pelagic creature, which means it lives its entire life in the water. The only times you’re likely to come across it are if you’re on a Philippine diving trip, bathing in the Pacific or the Sulu Sea, or sailing from island to island.
They are easy to identify on account of the fact that they don’t really look anything at all like other sea snakes. For a start, they are much beefier and thicker than kraits, and can grow nearly a meter in length. They also have a clear underbelly coloring of deep mustard yellow (hence the name), capped by a top color of dark grey and graphite.
The yellow-bellied sea snake is rated as extremely dangerous thanks to its place on the LD scale. It has a venom mix of neurotoxin and isotoxin that will cause all sorts of cognitive symptoms, from tiredness to confusion. If left untreated, bites from these guys can cause complete paralysis and death.
Yellow-lipped sea krait
We’re not lying when we say that a yellow-lipped sea krait ruined our beach holiday in Siargao not so long ago. There we were, sunning ourselves under a coconut tree after a long connecting flight. Deciding on a dip in the shimmering turquoise seas, we hopped right in and started lazing in the bath-warm waters. Next thing we know, one of these bad boys is swimming right at us. We were back on the sand in a jiffy and swimming wasn’t quite the same again.
Truth is that yellow-lipped sea kraits are super venomous. They are one of the most venomous species of snake on the planet, in fact. However, there’s a caveat – they are extremely shy of humans (even if our pal from Siargao wasn’t), so don’t have the same bite stats as cobras or vipers.
Despite the name, these guys can live on both land and in the water. They’re often found in the grasses close to the coast, and most bites occur when they get tangled in fishing nets as they emerge from the sea or head back in again. You can’t miss them. Just look for the trademark yellow head and the white-and-black body pattern.
Samar spitting cobra
Herpetologists will go wild for the vibrant yellow and black colorings of the uber-unique cobra subspecies that is the Samar spitting cobra. Other people, not so much. The reason? They are one of the most venomous snakes in the Philippines, not to mention extremely nervous customers that can attack without any provocation.
Just as the name implies, these guys don’t even need to be close enough to bite you to do serious damage. They can spit their venom up to six feet, and often aim straight for the more sensitive parts of the face, which makes them capable of blinding human victims. If they do sink their teeth in, then there’s double trouble, because you’ll get a hefty hit of neurotoxin that can destroy living tissue and shutdown vital organs.
The Samar spitting cobra is a relatively rare beast, mind you. In fact, the species is also known as the southern Philippine cobra, because it only lives in the southerly islands of the Philippines, in the Mindanao and Visayas archipelagos.
Palawan long-glanded coral snake
The Palawan long-glanded coral snake is just one of a whole bunch of coral serpents that could just as easily have made it onto this list of the most venomous snakes in Philippines. It’s named for the island where it was first found, and follows a similar biological makeup to other members of the same family – think a dash of bright color at the tail, followed by an alternating pattern, and then a full body of brown all the way to the head.
Long-glanded coral snakes are named because they have elongated venom glands, helping them carry more poison than most other species. That’s the bad news. The good news is that they are very shy and rarely attack humans unless they feel threatened. What’s more, they tend to live in thick scrub and monsoon forests, rarely emerging onto Palawan’s busier spots, like the beaches of El Nido or Port Barton.
Bataan pit viper
Bataan pit vipers are also known as Philippine pit vipers because they are a species of viper that resides solely in the Philippines. Today, it’s thought that their range extends as far north as the Cordillera Administrative Region of northern Luzon and as far south as the beaches and forests of Mindanao.
Like its Wagler cousin, the bataan viper is a type of lance-headed snake. That means you can usually tell them apart from other types of elapid by their distinctly formed head, which forms a clear triangle arrowhead on the top of the body, leading down to a thinner neck. That said, Philippine pit vipers have something else that makes them unique: A brazen, bright yellow or green coloring all over.
These guys are mainly tree-dwelling snakes, so you’ll need to look up to spot them, not down at the trail. They have a venom that’s similar to other snakes in the same genus, capable of destroying red blood cells and leading to necrosis of the flesh. That’ll ruin a holiday!
King cobras are up there with the most feared of all elapids on the globe. They have a sort of rep for being uber-dangerous, spurred on by the fact that they’re responsible for a huge portion of the snakebite deaths in South Asia each year (although a lot of that could be down to the fact that street entertainers continue to insist on trying to kiss them or charm them out of baskets!).
The bad news for folks heading over to the reefs of Cebu and the coral gardens of Palawan is that they live all over these islands. Yep, king cobras are found in the northern parts of Luzon and in the jungles of Davao alike. That said, they are now considered an endangered species, partly down to the fact that they are sought-after for their meat by practitioners of ancient Chinese medicine.
Bites from these famous serpents are not nice at all. They have enough stuff behind their fangs to kill a whopping 20 humans with a single bite. Victims usually suffer a mix of blurred vision, confusion, and extreme pain, and many will end up dead within the hour.
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A few months ago, on October 16 to be precise, I transcribed a Third Eye chakra meditation where the author, Master Djwhal Khul, mentioned the following sentence, “As a great One once taught his disciples, “I AM the Way, the Truth and the Light.””
Nothing clicked at the time although the words Light, Way and Truth are meaningful to me. A few days ago, the post below suddenly dropped on my lap, so to speak, from I-don’t-know-where-it-came-from. This was very mystical, to say the least, and a few more dots got connected, meaningfully so.
Please enjoy Nancy B. Detweiler’s article entitled, “JESUS did not mean He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.”
JESUS DID NOT MEAN HE IS THE WAY, THE TRUTH & THE LIFE
Nancy B. Detweiler, M.Ed., M.Div.
Ascended Master Jesus
Understanding what Jesus meant by the I AM sayings[i] is extremely important because it changes the way we view ourselves in relationship to God.[ii]
We must keep in mind that all sacred texts available to Earth humans were written by people residing on the 3rd dimensional plane of duality. In addition, what we know as the Bible today has been translated numerous times from Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin into our national languages, such as English, French, etc. As all translators know, words in one language often do not have an equivalent word in another language. For that reason, much of the original meaning can be lost in translation. In addition, the meanings of words change as time passes. The belief system of the translators also influences the choice of words they use in their translation.
As a result, the Bible contains numerous contradictions. Still many Christians are taught that the Bible is the infallible Word of God and is literally true. Christians are often taught to “stay in the Word,” meaning not to explore outside sources for answers to their questions about God and life. “Don’t ask questions or you will lose your faith” is a frequent admonition given by religious leaders. The reproof itself is an acknowledgement of uncertainty within a very shaky faith. We do not know what we do not know and for many, this is a frightening fact.
This strong tendency to stay in the box created by religious leaders, creeds, and denominations has resulted in Christians closing their minds to anything new relating to their own spiritual nature. Christians have feared to explore, to intuit Truth for themselves, and to go against the status que. In order to remain one of the many, we stifle our true feelings, our questions about life, our innate urge to explore and find Truth for ourselves. We even read Jesus’ encouragement to “seek and ye shall find” and “the truth will set you free” as if he meant seek only in the Bible and the truth you find there will set you free. Christians forget that the New Testament did not exist during Jesus’ lifetime. Any suggestions in the New Testament that we “stay in the Word” or “not change the Word” relate to the Old Testament because that was the only scripture known to the New Testament writers.
Near the end of the 19th century and into the 20th, teachers of advanced spiritual maturity began to incarnate to guide Earth humans in exploring metaphysical or hidden wisdom teachings regarding the Truth about God, our world, and ourselves. Sadly, the churches rejected these teachings as pagan, heretical, and New Age. What the church really meant is that the hidden wisdom did not conform with orthodox creeds/beliefs. It feared its adherents would ask questions and lose interest in orthodoxy. Teachers like Ernest Holmes (Science of Mind), Helen Blavatsky (Theosophy), and Charles Fillmore (Unity) were and are called leaders of cults—words used in a derogatory manner representing the condemnation of many religious authorities even though the teachings of these men and women have added greatly to Earth humans’ understanding of themselves and the laws by which the universe operates.
A.D.K. Luk was among the first to publish the teachings of Earth’s Ascended Masters, such as Ascended Master Kuthumi (formerly incarnated as Pythagoras, then later as St Francis of Assisi), who worked through Helen Blavatsky to form the Theosophical Society. Ascended Master El Morya (formerly incarnated as Abraham) worked through Mark & Elizabeth Claire Prophet to create Summit University Press for the purpose of teaching and publishing the Ascended Masters’ teachings. Ascended Master St. Germain (formerly incarnated as the Prophet Samuel and later as Joseph, father of Jesus) worked through America’s Founding Fathers to create a nation based on brotherhood and freedom for all. I could go on and on with examples of how Earth’s Ascended Masters have assisted their unascended brothers and sisters on this planet as we travel the spiritual path to our own ascension.[iii]
Yet the churches have not possessed or encouraged the development of “eyes to see and ears to hear these hidden wisdom teachings. This brings us back to the importance of understanding the meaning of the I AM sayings.
Reading the Gospel of John in accordance with Christian teachings, most do not question what they read. The I AM sayings are found in this gospel, along with repeated statements by Jesus that should alert the reader to delve deeper. Jesus never proclaimed himself as “The Way, the Truth, and the Life.”
He did repeatedly shift the attention from himself to the Father within. “The Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.” John 5:19 “I can do nothing on my own.” John 5:30 “My teaching is not mine but his who sent me.” John 7:16 “The one who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” John 8:26 “I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me.” John 8:28b
Not only did Jesus deflect attention from himself to the Father, he taught us: “I declare what I have seen in the Father’s presence; as for you, you should do what you have heard from the Father.” John 8:38 “I do not seek my own glory…. If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me.” John 8:50 “The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.” John 14:10
Jesus again speaks to us “the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these.” John 14:12 Jesus expected us to follow his example, NOT worship him. Christianity teaches that “Jesus did it all.” As a result, we make no effort to do the works that Jesus did and, in fact, exceed his works. Christians are taught, instead, to love Jesus as Lord & Savior. Self-realization is considered “New Age.” Holistic growth—body, emotions, mind, and spirit—is not a part of Christian teachings. Self-help books are often off-limits. Yet, in John 15, Jesus states, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower… I am the vine, you are the branches.” John 15:1,5 Anyone who has seen a grapevine knows that the main vein is composed of the same substances as the branches—Jesus and all of humanity possess the same potential. We are to learn to do all the works Jesus did and more. With the Father as vinegrower, Jesus as the vein, and humanity as the branches, we are All One.
“Then Jesus cried aloud: ‘Whoever believes in me believes not in me, but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me.” John 12:44
Jesus, the man, fully recognized that God dwelled within him, just as God dwells within each of us. Jesus allowed God to speak through him—what we call channeling in today’s world.
One of the Ascended Masters’ teachings concerns the I AM PRESENCE within each of us. When Christian religious leaders heard of the 20th century I AM PRESENCE movement, they pronounced it “New Age” and not in accordance with Christian teachings. Because religious leaders have ignored the hidden wisdom teachings, they are unaware of the ever-expanding cycles of time. New Age simply means the beginning of a new 2000 years cycle, just as the 21st century indicates the beginning of a new 100 years cycle and the New Year signifies the beginning of a new one year cycle. Whether or not we set out to do so, we end up learning something new during each year and during each century; we are and will be learning much that is new in this New Age of Aquarius.
One of the major lessons will concern who we truly are, as indicated in Elizabeth Claire Prophet’s Divine Self Chart.[iv]
The top figure radiating light outward to the world is the I AM PRESENCE indwelling each of us.
Jesus taught the Kingdom of God is within you. Christianity has taught God as separate from us; we have personified God into our image and set him on a throne in heaven. This personified God is a vengeful, angry God that demanded a blood sacrifice in order to appease his threats to punish us in an eternal hell of fire. Sadly, in our personification, we have created an image of God that is far less than any of us can imagine being. Which of us would require the blood sacrifice of one of our children so we, as parents, could bring ourselves to forgive another of our children?
Exodus 3 instructs us as to what Jesus meant when he said, “I AM the way, the truth, and the Life.”
“Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law … he came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush…. When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’ … I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob…. So come, I will send you to Pharoah to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt….’ But Moses said to God, ‘If I come to the Israelites and say to them, The God of your ancestors has sent me to you, and they ask me, What is his name? what shall I say to them?’ God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ He said further, ‘Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I Am has sent me to you.’”
The Hebrew word horeb means desert or solitude. Metaphysically, Horeb symbolizes a high place in conscious union with the divine. In order to contact the Divine, we must enter the solitude of our heart and inner mind where dwells the I AM PRESENCE.[v]
When Jesus spoke the I AM sayings, he was using the name of God, I AM. I AM is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, not Jesus. Moses was sent by I AM to the Israelites in Egypt; Jesus was sent by I AM to the Israelites in Palestine.[vi]
In order for us to learn to do all the works that Jesus did, we must go to our inner Mount Horeb and become One with our I AM PRESENCE. We are not separate from God; God indwells each of us. I AM is the bread of life, the light of the world, the gate, and the resurrection and the life.
We are the Temple of I AM! Through Jesus and through us, I AM is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
[i] What are the I AM sayings: “I AM the bread of life.” John 6:35 “I AM the light of the world. John 8:12 “I AM the gate.” John 10:7 “I AM the resurrection and the life.” John 11:25 “I AM the way, and the truth, and the life.” John14:6
[ii] Throughout this article I will use the term GOD to refer to the SOURCE OF ALL THAT IS.
[iii] You may read about the Ascended Masters at: http://www.pathwaytoascension.com/teachings/index.html
[iv] You may listen to Elizabeth Claire Prophet explain the Divine Self Chart here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfjqgiS5wQU&feature=channel_page
[v] Metaphysical Bible Dictionary, page 284.
[vi] Metaphysically, the Israelites represent those who seek God, not simply one ethnic group. According to Charles Fillmore, in his Metaphysical Bible Dictionary, the Israelites represent those who endeavor to follow the inner leading of the divine law. (Page 305)
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Please download the PDF Product Catalogs below by right-clicking on the “Download PDF” link, then “Save As”.
PowerCON SCARA IXP Series
More Arm Lengths to Choose from: 180/250/550/650mm Now Available
Catalog #: CE0219-3A (0915) (6.1MB)
Introducing new arm lengths 180/250/550/650mm added in cost-effective IXP Series. All models come standard with battery-less absolute encoders.
ROBO Cylinder Rotary Type: RCP2CR-RT/RCP2W-RT
*Cleanroom Type and Dust-proof Type Now Available
Catalog #: CJ0223-1A-UST-1-0615 (2.2 MB)
Cleanroom Type and Dust-proof/Splash-proof Type are now added to the lineup of the rotary type actuators.
Mini Cylinder RCD Catalog
*New Version Now Available
Catalog #: CJ0185-3A-UST-2-0415 (0.9 MB)
Ultra-compact motorized cylinder with 12mm cross-section and a body length as short as 60 mm.
Tabletop Robot TTA Series Catalog
*Cantilever Type and ZR-axis Type Now Available
Catalog #: CJ0206-2A-UST-1-0315 (7.1 MB)
Improved tabletop robot featuring significantly higher payload, maximum speed and rigidity.
Enlarged variation with addition of cantilever type and ZR-axis type
*Cleanroom Type and Dust-proof Type Now Available
Catalog #: CJ0218-1A-UST-1-0315 (2.5 MB)
Cleanroom type and Dust-proof type are now added to the lineup of the two-fingered gripper RCP2-GRS/GRM and three-fingered gripper RCP2-GR3SS/GR3SM series
Catalog #: CE0217-1A (0915) *Catalog number modified*
The ICSA Series Cartesian Robots have been renewed!
CT4 Catalog *Pick and Rotate Series Added
Catalog #: CJ0194-3A-UST-1-0115 (3.6 MB)
Higher rigidity, more efficient operation range, and greater straight moving performance can be achieved than standard parallel-linked robots!
LC-Ladder Programming Software for MSEP-LC
Catalog #: CJ0214-1A-UST-1-1114 (2 MB)
Controlling actuators with ROBO Cylinder position controllers used to require hard work to write ladder programs. PLC memory allocation needed to be considered, signals sent to the position controller, position numbers defined, and movements triggered with the correct timing. However, the MSEP-LC’s DFC command makes programming simple, providing static allocation of internal memory and timing-free command sending.
MSEL-PC/PG Program Controller for ROBO Cylinder
Catalog #: CJ0222-1A-UST-1-1214 (2 MB)
MSEL with High-output Driver (PowerCON)
Actuators with a pulse motor in the past were able to control only up to two axes with one program controller. By using MSEL, four axes will be available for control. It is also available for interpolation operation.
By applying the PowerCON, it is now possible to perform interpolation operation with ROBO Cylinders RCP5 and RCP4, which are applicable for high-output driver, but were not feasible with the PSEL program controller in the past.
SCON-CAL Position Controller for Single-axis Robots / Cartesian Robots / ROBO Cylinder RCS2/RCS3
Catalog #: CJ0221-1A-UST-1-1214 (2.4 MB)
The SCON-CAL controller saves you installation space. It measures only 49 mm wide, 158 mm high and 116 mm deep, making it 34% smaller in volume than the SCON-CA. Multiple SCON-CALs can be installed without leaving any space in between, which helps reduce the installation space for your control panel.
When the absolute battery voltage or fan speed drops, the warning LED turns on. With this function, you are informed visually when to replace a maintenance part. The controller can also be set up to output a warning signal.
Field networks CC-Link, DeviceNet, PROFIBUS-DP, MECHATROLINK-I/II, CompoNet, EtherCAT, EtherNet/IP, and PROFINET IO are supported.
Product Overview Brochure (24th Edition)
Catalog #: CJ0033-24A-UST-1-1114 (3.4 MB)
See what IAI has to offer! Discover our full range of motion control systems, including SCARA robots, linear actuators, table top robots, electric actuators, intelligent controllers & software, and ROBO Cylinder® electric cylinders — the smart alternative to air.
ROBO Cylinder® General Catalog (10 sections)
Catalog #: CJ0203-2A-UST-1-0614
ROBO Cylinders® are the energy efficient solution to your pneumatic system complications. The ROBO Cylinder® electric actuators achieve easy operation, high functionality, energy-savings and low costs. Offering a wide lineup, they help you resolve various problems you are facing in system design.
Download a Specific ROBO Cylinder Catalog Section or use Part Search.
1 Overview Preface / Pre 1-54 (9.3 MB)
2 Slider types / P1-144 (17.8 MB)
3 Rod types / P145-300 (16.4 MB)
4 Table, Arm, and Flat types / P301-370 (7.8 MB)
5 Gripper and Rotary types / P371-416 (4.8 MB)
6 Linear Servo types / P417-442 (2.5 MB)
7 Cleanroom types / P443-492 (6.5 MB)
8 Dust and Splash-Proof types / P493-522 (4.8 MB)
9 Controllers / P523-718 (20 MB)
10 Technical Reference and Index / A 1-135 (9.8 MB)
MSEP-C / LC Controller *Updated
Catalog #: CJ0216-2A-UST-1-0215 (4.8 MB)
Operating the actuator and controlling the ON/OFF of I/O (input/output) signals using a ladder logic program is now possible. If your equipment is small enough, the MSEP-LC is all you need to control it. If your equipment is larger in size, you can still use the MSEP-LC to perform distributed control for each process to reduce the load of the main PLC. The MSEP-LC also makes your program simpler and troubleshooting easier.
RCP4-SA3/RA3, RCP4CR-SA3 *Cleanroom Type Added
Catalog #: CJ0220-2A-US-1-0115 (2.4 MB)
SA3/RA3 Types with Body Width 32mm Added to the RCP4 Series:
* RCP4-SA3C – Slider Type
* RCP4-RA3C – Radial Cylinder Rod Type
* RCP4CR-SA3 – Cleanroom Type
RCD, RCP2, RCP4 Grippers
Catalog #: CJ0207-1A-UST-2-0914 (3.8 MB)
Achieving High-speed Opening/Closing and High Gripping Force, the ROBO Cylinder® Vertical Grippers
1. Slider Type and Lever Type
2. Supporting Multi-point Positioning, Adjustable Gripping Force
3. Highly Rigid, Accurate Guide and Driving Part
4. Self-locking Mechanism to Prevent the Work Part from Dropping upon Power Off
5. Ultra-compact Slider Type: RCD-GRSNA
ACON-CA and DCON-CA Positioner Controllers
Catalog #: CJ0211-1A-UST-2-0914 (2.5 MB)
Introducing the ACON-CA controller (for the ROBO Cylinder® RCA/RCA2/RCL series), the DCON-CA controller (for the ROBO Cylinder® RCD series) — High functionality and performance is packed in a space-saving, compact body!
PowerCON SCARA IXP Series and MSEL Controllers *Updated
Catalog #: CJ0219-2A-UST-1-0215 (6.1 MB)
Introducing the Cost-effective Pulse Motor Type IXP to the IX Series of SCARA Robots
1. Due to pulse motors, the IXP costs around 1/2 a conventional model
2. All models come standard with battery-less absolute encoders
3. The robot weights approx. 30% less than a conventional model
4. Added 3-axis specification and 4-axis gripper specification
Direct Drive Motor DD < 2nd edition >
Catalog #: CJ0199-2A-UST-1-0814 (1.9 MB)
The Direct Drive Motor is a rotary actuator that directly drives a rotary table with a motor without using any speed reducing mechanism such as a belt or reduction gears. Eliminating the speed reducing mechanism explains why high speed and excellent response can be attained with such a compact frame.
Latest Additions—High Torque Type, Large Hollow Bore Type, High Resolution Type
1. High Speed, High Acceleration/Deceleration, High Payload
2. Index Absolute Type or Multi-rotation Absolute Type Can be Selected
ROBO Cylinder® with Battery-less Absolute Encoder as Standard Equipment
the RCP5 series actuator with battery-less absolute encoder, realizing the convenience of an absolute encoder along with the cost and simplicity of an incremental encoder
The battery-less absolute encoder is an innovative encoder requiring no hassle or cost of battery replacement or adjustment associated therewith (patent pending), as rotational position data is recognized by a combination of gears to make the battery, which has been a required component of any traditional absolute encoder, no longer necessary. This encoder is ideal for the automobile industry and other production facilities where many absolute type actuators are used.
Catalog #: CJ0210-1A-UST-2-0814 (1.8 MB)
ROBO Cylinder® high-speed type — Achieving the max. speed of 2500 mm/s and max. acceleration of 3.2 G (Instantaneous max. acceleration of 4.8 G)
Improved high-speed performance reduces the cycle time!
RCP4W-RA Series Catalog
Catalog #: CJ0205-1A-UST-2-0214 (2.9 MB)
Introducing the IP67 Water-proof Radial Cylinder, the newest addition to the dust-proof/splash-proof ROBO Cylinder® RCP4W series — Built-in guide to achieve longer strokes while accommodating a radial load on the rod!
Catalog #: CJ0208-1A-UST-5-0814 (1.4 MB)
All your controllers can be now operated with one unit — The features include: supporting both program controllers and position controllers, easy-to-use design combining a 3.5″ full-color touch panel and keys, programs/data can be saved to SD cards, and more!
Mini ROBO Brake Option Catalog
Catalog #: CJ0209-1A-UST-1-1013 (736 KB)
Mini ROBO Cylinder rod type / table type with brake option has been added. Adding a brake to the rear of the main body will change the size and appearance of the actuator.
ERC3 Series Catalog (4th Edition) * New models added
Catalog #: CJ0184-4A-UST-2-0214 (5.2 MB)
Transform your factory with the efficiency-improving, space-saving ERC3 ROBO Cylinder® — Saving space with built-in controller / Supporting wide-ranging operations with longer strokes / Payloads and speeds have been increased by 1.5 times / Most affordable in our ROBO Cylinder® series!
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Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more all for only $19.99...
(Latin interest; Fr. intérêt; Germ. interesse). The mental state called interest has received much attention in recent psychological literature. This is largely due to the German philosopher Herbart. The important position he has won for it in the theory of education makes it deserving of some treatment in the Catholic Encyclopedia. Psychologists have disputed as to the exact meaning to be assigned to the term and the precise nature of the mental state.
Interest has been variously defined as a kind of consciousness accompanying and stimulating attention, a feeling pleasant or painful directing attention--the pleasurable or painful aspect of a process of attention--and as identical with attention itself. Thus it may be said, I attend to what interest. me; and, again, that to be interested and to attend are identical. The term interest is used also to indicate a permanent mental disposition. Thus I may have an interest in certain subjects, though they are not an object of my present attention. However interest be defined, and whether it be described as a cause of attention, an aspect of attention, or as identical with attention, its special significance lies in its intimate connection with the mental activity of attention. Attention may be defined as cognitive or intellectual energy directed towards any object. It is essentially selective, it concentrates consciousness on part of the field of mental vision, whilst it ignores other parts. Attention is also purposive in character. It focuses our mental gaze in order to attain a clearer and more distinct view. It results in a deeper and more lasting impression, and therefore plays a vital part both in each cognitive act and in the growth of knowledge as a whole. The English Associationist school of psychology and most Empiricists, in treating of the genesis of knowledge, seem to look on the intensity or frequency of the stimulus as the most influential factor in the process of cognition. As a matter of fact, what the mind takes in depends almost entirely on this selective action of attention.
Out of the total mass of impressions, streaming in at any moment through the various channels of sense, it is only those to which attention is directed that rise to the level of intellectual life, or take real hold of the mind. What these are will be determined by interest. We are interested in what is connected with our past experience, especially in what is partly new, yet partly familiar. Pleasant feelings and painful feelings are original excitants of attention; there are other experiences also--neutral perhaps in themselves, but associated with these latter--which generate fear or hope, and so become interesting. Though our attention may be temporarily attracted by any sudden shock or unexpected impression of unusual intensity, we do not speak of this as interesting, and our attention soon wanes. Isolated experiences, except in so far as they may stimulate the intellect to seek to correlate them with some previous cognitions, do not easily hold the mind. Repeated efforts are required to keep our attention fixed on an unfamiliar branch of study (as e.g. a new language or science). But in proportion as each successive act of observation or understanding leaves a deposit in the form of an idea in the memory, ready to be awakened by partially similar experiences in the future, there as gradually built up in the mind a group or system of ideas constituting our abiding knowledge of the subject. Such series of experiences, with the group of ideas thus deposited in the memory, render similar acts of cognition easy and agreeable in the future. In fact they develop a kind of appetite for future related experiences, which are henceforth assimilated, or, in Herbartian language, apperceived, with facility and satisfaction. The latent group of ideas bearing in any topic constitute an interest in the sense of a permanent disposition of the mind, whilst the feeling of the process of apperception, or assimilation, is interest viewed as a form of actual consciousness. But an event of a bizarre or novel character, which we may find difficulty in comprehending or assimilating with past experience, may also fascinate our mind. The strange, the horrible, may thus awaken at least temporarily a keen, if morbid, interest. Still, in so far as such experiences may excite fear or anxiety, they come under the general principle that interest is associated with personal pleasure or pain.
Broadly speaking, then, all those things which arouse or sustain non-voluntary or spontaneous attention are interesting whilst phenomena to which we can attend only with voluntary effort are uninteresting. The child is interested in its food and its play, also in any operations associated with pleasure or pain in the past. The boy is interested in his games, in those exercises which he has come to connect with his own well-being, and in branches of study which have already effected such a lodgment in the mind that new ideas and items of information are readily assimilated and associated with what has gone before. Men are interested in those subjects which have become interwoven and connected with the main occupations of their lives.
The psychology of interest being thus understood, its capital importance in the work of education becomes obvious. It is in his insistence on the value of this mental and moral force, and his systematic treatment of it in application to the business of teaching that Herbart's chief importance as an educationist lies. In proportion as the teacher can awaken and sustain the interest of the pupil, so much greater will be the facility, the rapidity and the tenacity of the mental acquisition of the latter. It must be admitted that, in beginning most branches of knowledge, a number of "dry" facts, which possess little interest of themselves for the child, have usually to be learned by sheer labour. The spontaneous attention of the pupil will not fix on and adhere with satisfaction to the ideas presented in the opening pages of a text-book. Here the teacher is compelled to demand the effort of voluntary attention, even though it be not pleasant, on the part of the pupil. Still, he will wisely do his utmost to make some of the future utility of the immediate labour intelligible to the student, and in this way attach mediate interest to that which is dull and unattractive in itself. Moreover, as the protracted effort of attention to what is in itself uninteresting is fatiguing, he will keep the lessons in these subjects short at first, and vary the monotony by enlivening and useful bite of information, illustrations, comments, and the like, which will afford relief and rest between the attacks on the substance of the lesson. At this stage the master aims at being an interesting teacher; he cannot as yet make his subject interesting, which, however, should be his ultimate goal.
But, as the student advances, there is being formed in his mind an increasing group of cognitions, a growing mass of ideas about this branch of study, which makes the entrance of each new idea connected with it easier and more welcome. There is a feeling of satisfaction as each new item fits into the old, and is assimilated or "apperceived" by the latter. The pupil begins to feel that the ideas he already possesses give him a certain power to understand and manipulate the subject of his study. He has become conscious of an extension of this power with each enlargement of his knowledge, and the desire for more knowledge begins to manifest itself. Here we have apperceptive attention or immediate interest. To generate this immediate interest in the subject itself being a main object of the teacher, this purpose should determine his exposition of the subject as a whole, and also guide him in dealing with the student from day to day. His exposition should be orderly, proceeding logically with proper divisions: the more important principles or ideas should be firmly fixed by repetition, the subdivisions located in their proper places, and their connection with the heads under which they fall made clear. By this means the ideas about the subject introduced into the mind of the pupil are built up into a rational or organized system. This secures greater command of what is already known, as well as greater facility in the reception of further knowledge, and so expedites the growth of interest. But besides this orderliness of exposition in the treatment of the matter, which might be formal and lifeless, the teacher must be continually adapting his instruction to the present condition of the pupil's mind. He must constantly keep in view what ideas the student has already acquired. He has to stir up the related set of ideas by judicious questions or repetitions, and excite the appetite of curiosity, when about to communicate further information; he has to show the connection and bind the new item with the previous knowledge by comparison, illustration, and explanation. Finally, he is to be alive to every opportunity to generalize, and to show how the new information may be applied by setting suitable exercises or problems to be worked out by the pupil himself. He thus leads the pupil to realize his increase of power, which is one of the most effective means of fostering active interest both in the subject itself and in the relation of its various parts with the whole.
Modern pedagogy, however, especially since Herbart, insists on the value of interest not only as a means, but as an educational end in itself. For the Herbartian school the aim of education should be the formation of a man of "many-sided interest". This is to be attained by the judicious cultivation of the various faculties intellectual, emotional, and moral--that is by the realization of man's entire being with all its aptitudes. It may be conceded that, with certain qualifications and reservations, there is a substantial amount of truth in this view. Worthy interest. ennoble and enrich human life both in point of dignity and happiness. The faculties, mental and physical, clamour for exercise; man's activities will find an outlet; the capacities of his soul are given to be realized. Ceteris paribus, one good test of the educational value of any branch of study, and of the efficiency of the method by which it has been taught, is to be found in the degree in which it becomes a permanent interest to the mind. The exercise of our mental powers on a subject, which has already created for itself a real interest, is accompanied by pleasure. A man's business or profession, when he is working independently for himself, should, and normally does, become a topic of keen interest. But, unless his life is to be very narrow and stinted, he should also have other interest.. His leisure hours require them. Wholesome intellectual, social, and æsthetic interest. are amongst the most effective agencies for overcoming the temptations to drink, gambling, and other degrading forms of amusement. The pressure of ennui and idleness will develop a most harmful discontent, unless the faculties find suitable employment. The man who, after a number of years devoted exclusively to the work of making money, retires from business in order to enjoy himself, is liable to find life almost insupportable through want of interesting occupation. A subject, respecting which the mind is in possession of an organized system of ideas, is necessary to man for the agreeable exercise of his faculties, and such an interest requires time for its growth. Although then it is erroneous to maintain that many-sided interest or culture, however rich and varied, constitutes morality or supplies for religion, still it may be readily acknowledged that a judicious equipment of worthy interest., intellectual, æsthetic, and social is a powerful ally in the battle with evil passions, and also one of the most precious elements of human well-being with which a wisely planned scheme of education can equip the human soul.
APA citation. (1910). Psychology of Interest. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08075a.htm
MLA citation. "Psychology of Interest." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08075a.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Rick McCarty.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster at newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.
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Female Entrepreneurship: An Interview with MODMASK Founder Maryam Garg
More women in the US today are starting their own businesses than ever before. In the last 12 years, the yearly growth of women in business has been 4.2%. And, since 1997, women-owned businesses have grown from 26% of all businesses to 39%. Now is a better time than ever before to start your own business as a woman, but of course, there are still barriers that many self-starting female entrepreneurs encounter on their journey to success. Some of the most common obstacles include difficulties in securing funding, developing a support network, and finding entrepreneurial mentors. As a 35-year-old female business owner, grad student, and full-time mom and wife, Maryam Garg, the founder of MODMASK, has encountered many of these same challenges herself. We hope this interview will give you a chance to get to know our founder a little better as well as an opportunity to learn a little more about what’s at the heart of MODMASK:)
What got you interested in entrepreneurship? Did you always know you wanted to be an entrepreneur?
I never thought I’d be an entrepreneur. Growing up around my father, a professor who was always also pursuing entrepreneurial business ideas on the side, my family and I witnessed the many ups and downs of the life of an entrepreneur—its excitement and creativity, but also its uncertainty and instability. In my family, “entrepreneur” was another word for risk-taker. Because of this, my mom always encouraged me to pursue a more stable career. So, I took a job at Macy’s, starting in digital marketing, then moving to strategy, and then Product Management. I was never quite ready to settle into one role because I always wanted to be learning and trying something new. When I became a mom, I decided to transition to doing freelance work as a tech consultant. Soon, I came to love the freedom and flexibility of being my own boss. When inspiration struck with the idea of MODMASK, I knew it was my chance to try my hand at being an entrepreneur.
What inspired you to start MODMASK?
To be honest, I think it all started last year when my husband and I decided to go to Coachella together to check going to a festival event off my bucket list. As we researched the festival, I noticed that a lot of people wore creative, colorful masks to prevent breathing in the desert dust. Though Coachella got cancelled, my fascination with the masks led me to begin thinking about the idea of masks transitioning to more of an everyday item, worn for fashion and other practical uses, not just for medical purposes and in a few other specific contexts. A couple months later, I decided to wear a fun mask by a popular, high-end mask brand to a concert as a bit of an experiment, but I was highly disappointed by how uncomfortable it was. When later on that year California’s fire season set in, I spent time searching for an everyday mask I could wear to filter out unhealthy particles and smoke—but found that medical-grade masks were sold out everywhere and fabric masks were nowhere to be seen. Before the news started to spread about the coronavirus, I realized people were quickly going to need comfortable, well-fitting masks they could wear day to day. Because I have always been passionate about fashion and design, I decided to create my own mask design from scratch. I did some customer discovery with students in the grad school to find out what qualities and features people would want in a mask and decided on the material, style, and fit. After a lot of trial-and-error, six weeks later, the MODMASK was born.
Have there been any struggles you have encountered in starting your own business that you feel are unique to female entrepreneurs?
Initially I didn’t even think about the fact that I was a female entrepreneur. But it wasn’t long before I encountered one struggle that many young women today starting their own businesses encounter. I call it the struggle of being a “momtrepreneur.” One reason I started MODMASK was to be able to spend more time with my 2-year-old and 5-year-old daughters. Although that has been amazing, I’ve definitely learned that being an entrepreneur running your own small business is a 24/7 job. When you’re working for a large company, you can be highly invested in the company, yet when you take a vacation, you take a vacation. When you’re running your own business, you’re constantly coming up with new ideas, finding new ways to advertise, managing customer service, and trying to make sure things are running smoothly. So even when you’re present with your family physically, you may not be completely mentally there. Of course there are pros and cons to every job, and I’m thankful that running my own business has given me the opportunity to spend more time with my family, even if I’m a bit more distracted at times. I think it’s just something that moms thinking about starting their own business to increase family time should make sure they’ve considered first.
Do you think there are any strengths in being female as an entrepreneur? Are there any skills you feel that you specifically bring to the table as a woman?
In my experience, women I have worked with are good at listening to their own intuition, that gut feeling. I think that this is a really important ability when it comes to starting your own business. As you make decisions about the values, goals, and direction of your company, you need to be able to listen to your gut. On the other hand, in my experience, women also tend to be good at receiving feedback—they are often good listeners and are receptive to implementing the ideas of other people. This is a really great strength for a small business owner as well—not only can it make mentorship much more effective, but it can also help women achieve a healthy balance of internal and external perspective in running their business. Many women also have the ability to multitask (especially the ones who have been moms:) As a small business owner, you often have to be able to juggle many aspects of running a business at the same time, from production to shipping to sales, so this can really come in handy. The final strength I think many female business owners have is a sense of empathy, an important factor in delivering quality, personal-feeling customer service, which can be essential in getting a small company on its feet. Of course, these qualities I’ve been talking about don't necessarily define or represent all women, but in my experience, I feel that these are strengths that they generally bring to the table in the business world.
Female entrepreneurship statistics show that 70% of female business owners are over the age of 40. Not only are you a female business owner, but you are also younger than most female small business owners! Do you feel this has posed any extra or unique challenges for you?
That statistic doesn’t surprise me. I think the majority of female business owners are over the age of 40 because they have had more time to acquire financial resources, are accountable for fewer personal financial responsibilities (like buying a new home and a car or potentially supporting a family), and, more than anything, have gained confidence in their own abilities and ideas. Many younger women lack the resources to fund their own business aspirations, as well as the confidence in themselves to pursue making these aspirations into a reality. Though I have a family to support and am still in a younger, perhaps less established stage of my life, I was fortunate enough to have a husband with a stable job who encouraged me to invest the time and money required to pursue what I wanted to do.
Statistics suggest that one primary struggle for female entrepreneurs is finding a mentor. Have you had any mentors? Who would you say your most influential mentor has been?
Tommy Knapp. He is the head of the MSEI graduate program at Marshall School of Business at USC, and is probably my most immediate mentor. He’s constantly pushing me in directions I never thought I’d go, and he has been a great source of knowledge, encouragement, and resources. When I told him my idea for MODMASK at the very beginning, he encouraged me to go for it. My other mentor is my uncle. He’s very academic, but also has a bit of experience in the entrepreneurial world. He started his own software company and sold it years ago. My uncle is more of a life advisor—he is always encouraging me to strive for balance, offering an outsider’s perspective on any struggles I face. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find a female mentor, which is something I really hope to have someday, but I feel lucky to have two great mentors in my life when many entrepreneurs, especially female small-business owners, have none. Being a small business owner can be lonely—you don’t have the daily interactions with a network of coworkers that many jobs offer. Conversations with others, especially those you can collaborate on ideas with, can be both energizing and stabilizing: they can help ground you and your perspective. A lot of female entrepreneurs don’t have that kind of outlet available to them.
Other than being a woman-owned business, are there any ways MODMASK is specifically seeking to empower women interested in entrepreneurship?
MODMASK has offered me a great opportunity to give back in terms of mentorship to the up-and-coming community of young female entrepreneurs. Through MODMASK, I was able to create two internship-mentorship positions through which I have been able to work with and encourage two female undergraduate students at USC. I was also able to begin mentoring the female model for our masks on the site. With a little bit of encouragement, she recently founded her own company, and I just heard that she landed her first job the other day! For anyone who is interested in entrepreneurship and reading this blog, feel free to reach out to me through the contact form (just make the heading mentorship). I would love to talk to you and support you in any way I can! Speaking from my own experience, I really believe in the power of mentorship. I truly believe that the more mentorship we can offer to women, the more female leaders we will see.
Do you have any advice for women who are interested in becoming an entrepreneur?
Just do it. Don’t be afraid and don’t hesitate. A lot of people over-analyze their business plans, get wrapped up in working out every small detail, and drag the process out until the inspiration fades and they stop before they even get started. So my biggest piece of advice is to start today. Don’t wait until tomorrow. Start small and take things one step at a time—but begin making tangible progress. All that you need to get started is a vision and a direction. And of course, the future is an essential consideration as you begin to make more concrete plans of action, but don’t get married to your long-term plans. When your business is financially lean, as most small businesses are, things are always changing. And that’s part of what makes starting your own business so exciting! Approach the present with optimism, and the future with an open-mind. My final encouragement is to strive to learn something new in everything you do. The skills and knowledge you will accumulate through your experience are priceless, and they will help form a solid foundation for both you and your company moving forward. In starting MODMASK, I’ve learned more in three months than I did over the course of the previous ten years!
Are there any ways those reading this blog can support female entrepreneurship, even if they don’t plan on becoming a female entrepreneur themselves?
If you’re a woman and have been considering starting your own business, do it! There has never been a time where there has been more support for female entrepreneurs. You don’t have to start a business with the end goal of running a large company—many women today are running successful, small lifestyle businesses all on their own. If you already are an entrepreneur or small business owner, no matter your gender, seek out women you can mentor. And even if you aren’t an entrepreneur, you can support women you know who are considering starting their own business or encourage young women to consider it as a viable option for a career path. One final way you can support female business is to learn more about the leadership of the companies you buy from. Most people don’t give a lot of thought to who they are supporting through their purchases. Maybe take the time to dig a little deeper and find companies who stand for causes you support, whether that’s female entrepreneurship or something else!
Thanks for reading! We hope you enjoyed meeting our founder and digging a little deeper into who we are and what we’re all about:)
MODMASK Content Writer
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The Nest Cam Indoor Wi-Fi tied for the high score in this review with the iBaby M6S Wi-Fi. This monitor earned the high score for video quality, range, and battery life, with second place scores for ease of use and features. Its impressive performance helped it win the Top Pick award for Long-term Use. The Nest is a cool surveillance camera you can use to watch your baby, but given that it isn't specifically designed with baby in mind, it lacks some of the fun features parents may want like lullabies and nightlight. The Nest Cam offers motion detection, sound activation, 2-way talk to baby, and 8x digital zoom. The Nest Cam camera can not be controlled remotely, but instead relies on a large field of view you can zoom into and then search in a way that looks similar to pan and tilt. The downside to this camera is it does not continue to monitor if you use another app or take a phone call making it hard to use full time if you only have one device, so we recommend using a device other than your phone for consistent baby viewing. The Nest Cam is the most expensive Wi-Fi monitor in the group, but it is still cheaper than 3 of the dedicated monitors, and its long-term use possibilities make it an investment we think parents will use for years to come as a nanny cam, home security feature, or checking in on pets.
The iBaby doesn't have the best sound which is somewhat disappointing considering the great video quality. It is also going to look out of place should you try to use it for any other purpose outside baby monitoring. This limited use means it doesn't retain value the way the Nest Cam will. However, if you want a baby-centric video option that has lots of fun bells and whistles, then the iBaby is the one for you.
Winner of this year’s JPMA innovation award for safety, the Nanit Smart Baby Monitor is an over-the-crib Wi-Fi video monitor that uses computer vision technology to track a baby’s sleep habits/patterns and provide data-crazed parents with stats and customized sleep tips in the morning, most of which are written by medical professionals. The only catch is that to receive these reports and tips, you need to pay $100 a year for Nanit Insights, the company’s subscription-based service. For parents who’d rather not pay the monthly fee, Nanit is still a sleek HD video monitor with night vision, one-way audio, and a soft glow LED nightlight.
We began by shopping for baby monitors like anyone else would if they had dozens of hours to do it. The process started with a long list of best sellers at Amazon, Walmart, Target, BuyBuy Baby, Babies“R”Us, and Costco. We found monitors recommended in editorial reviews, such as PCMag, Reviewed.com, and Tom’s Guide. We also read a ton of discussion among parents in the Amazon reviews—what features they found especially useful, and what problems tend to occur. Thinking of all this, and comparing those concerns against the things we’ve appreciated and despised in our own years of monitor use, we developed the following selection criteria:
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) continues to warn parents against using wearable monitors on infants to track breathing and vital signs — as they aren’t FDA approved and don’t always provide the most accurate results. The caution has led to the advent of non-contact breathing monitors like Cocoon Cam Plus. It’s a ‘smart’ Wi-Fi baby monitor that not only lets parents watch live 720p high-def footage of their baby snoozing, but also track their real-time breathing, movements, and sleep patterns using computer vision and artificial intelligence. And it can do both from either above the crib or across the room, without requiring the child to wear any additional gadgets.
Because the Nest Cam relies on an internet connection, it can fail if your internet is not reliable. So, if you'll experience sleepless nights worrying about connectivity or your internet connection, then you'll want to consider a dedicated option that works without the internet. However, if you have a large house, you could be restricted to Wi-Fi options only due to range limitations of dedicated products. For families looking for a product they can use for years to come that allows them to see little ones from outside the home, it is hard to beat this versatile camera and everything it brings to the table.
The Nest Cam Indoor Wi-Fi camera is a cool Wi-Fi camera that pairs with your personal device like a smartphone or tablet. This easy to use camera has amazing video, can be viewed anywhere you have a connection and has several useful features. The Nest Cam is good for baby watching, but it can also be used as a nanny cam or for security after your little one is older. We love that the Nest Cam has a reasonable price and can be used for many years to come retaining its value long after the standard monitoring device is no longer useful.
Image and audio quality: We wanted a high enough resolution to make out facial features in the dark, at more than a few feet of distance, and (obviously) in daylight as well. The screen itself did not need to be incredibly high-resolution, but we wanted a size that would be easily visible on a nightstand. For all monitors, but especially audio-only options, we wanted to be able to hear everything clearly at the lowest volumes.
Clarity of Daytime and Night Vision: When wireless baby monitor systems with screens were first introduced onto the market they used somewhat outdated display technology that made for a grainy, distorted and often unreliable picture. Newer baby monitors use a liquid crystal display similar to the ones used in your smart phone and other consumer electronics, so these HD video baby monitors tend to have very nice color contrast and high resolution, and are also substantially more reliable. All of the stand-alone baby monitors we list above have high-quality displays, and we do not recommend some of the relatively old fashioned ones that can still be found on the market. Of course, night vision doesn't use color - so the display will be either grayscale or show a slightly green hue. That's important to keep in mind before you try it out for the first time; not even military special operations have color night vision, so don't expect anything amazing, even from the best baby monitor!
Baby monitors, despite the name, are meant more for the caregiver than they are for the baby. We asked parents about which features they felt were helpful, like a long range so they could wander carefree all over the house, and reliability so they weren’t struggling to maintain a signal. Other features like being able to play lullabies, or receive temperature alerts are only as useful as you make them. And a few features, like motion monitors, can be exceptionally comforting for some, and distressing for others.
Many parents find that a basic sound product more than meets their needs. They plan to run to baby's aid each time they hear them cry, and they don't need to spy on their baby with video. Using a sound option is the cheapest way to go to get a quality product that works well. However, if you need or want to see your baby, then a video option is the only way to meet this need. Choosing a Wi-Fi option means no concerns about range, the ability to see your baby when you are away from home, and usually better image quality. Wi-Fi also means you'll be able to use it for longer as potential security or nanny cam; this adds value you may not be considering right now (but should). Movement monitoring options are a luxury that most parents can do without. If you're worried about your little one and SIDs, studies show that having a baby sleep in their own bed in your room (along with standard safe sleep practices) goes a long way in helping to prevent SIDs and could potentially be more effective than movement monitoring. Choosing a great beside bassinet may be a better solution than a movement product. However, if your heart wants a movement product, then be sure to consider a sound or video option to pair with it so you can be sure to hear the alarm from another room.
If that's all this multi-function device did, then it would still be worth its price tag. But REMI does more yet. As your child gets older and can begin to manage his or her own sleep schedule, REMI helps the kid out by serving as a sleep trainer. You can program the time that your child is allowed to wake by having REMI wake up at the appointed hour. And to calm and soothe a child, you can use this Bluetooth enabled device as a speaker, playing music or talking to your child via REMI app connection.
The BabySense (and other mattress sensors) require a hard surface under the mattress to work, and they don't work with all mattress types so you'll need to research your mattress to ensure it is compatible. This option is also not good for travel because of these special considerations. This product doesn't have a parent unit which means the alarm happens in the nursery with your little one and could be traumatic to sleeping little ones. If you want a movement device that works well and has a longer life than the wearable options, then the BabySense 7 is a great way to get the job done with minimal fuss.
Video monitors give a quick and silent look into baby's world without leaving your cozy bed or disturbing the baby. If a trip to the nursery is warranted, you haven't lost much time, but if the baby is just adjusting, then you can go back to sleep without getting up. Getting good sleep, or as much sleep as possible can be the difference between a great newborn experience and feeling like a new parent/zombie failure.
The Philips Avent SCD630 earned a 4th place rank, but it is the number 1 ranked dedicated monitor we tested. It has the longest range and highest ease of use scores for the dedicated options and the best score for sound clarity out of all the monitors we tested in this review. The Philips has lullabies, a nightlight, 2-way talk to baby, automatic screen wakeup/sleep, sound activation, 2x zoom, and a temperature sensor. While it struggles to offer true to life images and has fewer features than most of the competition, it is hard to deny that this plug and play monitor is a simple solution for video baby monitoring, and it gets the job done with little fuss and only a small learning curve. However, if you want a remote-controlled camera, you should look elsewhere, as this one is manual with a smaller field of view.
Like most other product review sites, ConsumerSearch is supported by a combination of commissions on the sale of the products we recommend and ads that are placed on our site by Google. If you find something you like, you can help support us by clicking through and buying the products we pick. Our editorial process is independent and unbiased; we don’t accept product samples, requests for reviews or product mentions, or direct advertising.
It may surprise you to hear that simply being able to last through the night, unplugged, with the display off, qualifies as exceptional battery life for a baby monitor. The Infant Optics was one of the only monitors in our testing that could easily do that, and then last a while longer the next day before needing a charge. (The manufacturer claims it lasts 10 hours with the display off—we got that amount of time off a full charge, even when checking the display intermittently.) This model also charges via a USB connection, which actually sets it apart from a variety of competitors, some of which use ineffective and inconvenient proprietary DC chargers or even disposable batteries.
Testing battery life for all the monitors was for the parent device only. While some of the dedicated options have a battery in the camera in the event of a power outage, most do not, and they are not intended for use as an all-night option. So while we would support a cordless camera for monitoring baby, due to safety concerns with babies and strangulation hazards, none of the products in our review offer this.
The main reason you’re going to need a baby monitor is to answer a simple, but time-honored, question: Why the hell is my baby crying? It’s only been in the last 30 years or so that parents have relied on the remote surveillance of their sleeping children. For the eons before that, it was a combination of natural, ear-piercing cries, and sleeping in the same yurt.
Encrypted Wireless Communications: Here's something creepy and strange - there are reports of people tapping into even the best baby monitors and getting some bizarre pleasure from watching your baby sleep or watching you feed the baby in the middle of the night. A few of the manufacturers have included wireless encryption on their systems to make this much less likely.
The most important thing to look for in all kinds of baby monitors is audio quality. Regardless of whether you want a video-based baby monitor or not, you need clear audio so you can hear your baby properly. You'll also want one with sound activation so that you don't have to listen to white noise 90% of the time. With sound activation, you'll only hear the noises from your baby's room when there's something important to hear.
Project Nursery offers a variety of monitor options that include fantastic features like remote camera control, two-way communication, motion, sound and temperature alerts and the ability to play white noise or lullabies. But what we like best about this one is that it comes with a traditional 5-inch screen monitor and a 1.5-inch mini video monitor that you can wear like a bracelet. Both monitors have a long battery life, too.
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|Area||0.6 km2 (0.23 sq mi)|
|Highest elevation||1.5 m (4.9 ft)|
|Population||2,600 (as of 2006)|
The Carteret Islands (also known as Carteret Atoll, Tulun or Kilinailau Islands/Atoll) are Papua New Guinea islands located 86 km (53 mi) north-east of Bougainville in the South Pacific. The atoll has a scattering of low-lying islands called Han, Jangain, Yesila, Yolasa and Piul, in a horseshoe shape stretching 30 km (19 mi) in north-south direction, with a total land area of 0.6 square kilometres (0.2 sq mi) and a maximum elevation of 1.5 metres (4 ft 11.1 in) above sea level.
The group is made up of islands collectively named after the British navigator Philip Carteret, who was the first European to discover them, arriving in the sloop Swallow in 1767. As of 2005, about one thousand people live on the islands. Han is the most significant island, with the others being small islets around the lagoon. The main settlement is at Weteili on Han island. The island is near the edge of the large geologic formation called the Ontong Java Plateau.
When visited in 1830 by Benjamin Morrell in the schooner Antarctic, several islands had a native population who were growing several crops. One small island was uninhabited and covered with heavy timber. With the approval of the area's ruler, Morrell's crew began construction on the southwest corner of the island in the northeast part of the atoll, with the intent to harvest snail meat and edible bird nests for the Chinese market.
Food staples have been cultivated: taro and coconut and fishing supports the people. The area had been inhabited for about 1,000 years before European contact in about 1880, when the copra trade and other activities altered the economy and customs. Population grew rapidly in the early 1900s, and overcrowding in the 1930s caused a population decline. Food shortages since the 1960s, in recent times caused by international commercial fishers, caused resettlement of some islanders to the Kuveria area of Bougainville from 1984 through the late 1980s. In the 1990s the islanders were identified as economic refugees. Although taro has been a cultivated crop planted in watered areas, by 2002 that had been forgotten by an island leader who complained about wild taro no longer growing.
The Carteret Islands inhabitants are a Halia-speaking community closely related to the population of Hanhan Bay, in nearby Buka Island. They are a dark-skinned people with customs very similar to those of the Buka, although with some important adaptations to the atoll environment. The Carteret Islanders call themselves the Tuluun.
Like the Halia, Hakö, Selau and Solos groups in Buka and Bougainville, the Tuluun reckon descent matrilineally. They are primarily organized into two moiety-like groups, the Nakaripa and Naboen. Unlike moieties in a true dual organization system, Nakaripa and Naboen are not exogamous in practice, though a strong preference for exogamy is usually reported. Exogamy is important in the organization of political power. Male and female chiefs attempt to organize cross-moiety marriages, the main reason for this being that the legitimation of chiefly power requires the participation of the opposite moiety.
Oral tradition states that the Carteret Islands were originally inhabited by a Polynesian group closely related to the Nukumanu, or Mortlock Islanders. The islands were discovered by a fishing expedition from Hahalis. According to the Halia tradition, the first attempt to reach the islands had a peaceful intention, but ended in the massacre of the Halia expedition. The Munihil, or paramount chief of Hanahan Bay then organized a large flotilla of canoes to attack the Polynesian population, and conquered the islands. By contrast, the Mortlock Islanders state that the Halia mounted a blood and murder surprise attack to remove their relatives.
Genealogical information suggest that the Halia invasion took place in the early 18th century. Philip Carteret reported the population as being dark-skinned.
Physical atoll conditions
Like many other atolls throughout the Pacific Ocean, this one is very low-lying and its main constituent, the coral, needs to be covered in water most of the time. Land is created by the ocean when some vegetation, such as a coconut palm or mangrove shoots, take hold in the much shallower parts of the reef. One tree leads to a slight buildup of coral sand around its base. This leads to more trees (palms) and the size of the individual islets on the reef grow. Over the long period the islands progress from the seaward edge of the atoll towards the lagoon as the sand is blown and washed towards the calmer shore. It is easy to determine the direction of the prevailing winds by observing the position and condition of the islets on the reef.
Palms or trees that become exposed in storms usually die by losing their grip in the little sand left at the end of the storm season. Sometimes whole islets get washed away.
People live on the larger island or islands formed around the atoll and trek back and forth to the smaller ones by walking the reef at low tide or by small canoes. Much of the taro is grown away from the inhabited island. It is often very vulnerable to salt-water inundation, but by being away from the living area is protected from human-waste contamination.
||This section possibly contains original research. (June 2013)|
It was widely reported in November 2005 that the islands have progressively become uninhabitable, with an estimate of their total submersion by 2015. The islanders have fought a more than twenty years battle, building a seawall and planting mangroves. However, storm surges and high tides continue to wash away homes, destroy vegetable gardens and contaminate fresh water supplies. The natural tree cover on the island is also being impacted by the incursion of saltwater contamination of the fresh water table.
Cause of Carteret Inundation
Paul Tobasi, the atolls' district manager with Papua New Guinea's Bougainville province, and many other environmental groups have suggested that the flooding is the result of sea-level rise associated with global warming. He also stated that small tidal waves were becoming more frequent.
Those convinced the islands are sinking, not the sea-level rising, also propose that, "Some depletion of the fresh water aquifer may also contribute to the sinking," but do not explain how depletion of the fresh water aquifer could be significant on an island that is no more than 1.5 m higher than sea-level. Also cited by Dr. Ray, "The region is also tectonically active and subsiding land is a real possibility." However, The Carteret Islands lie on the Pacific Plate, lying east of and above where the Solomon Sea plate is subducting underneath it.
Fred Terry, the director of the United Nations Development Project on Bougainville, said the destruction of reefs in the Carterets with dynamite might be the cause (of flooding on Carteret Islands).
There have been a number of different relocation schemes initiated since the 1980s. These have had mixed success with many of the relocated families subsequently returning home.
On 25 November 2003, the Papua New Guinean government authorized the government-funded total evacuation of the islands, 10 families at a time; the evacuation was expected to be completed by 2007, but access to funding caused numerous delays.
In October 2007 it was announced that the Papua New Guinea government would provide two million kina (USD $736,000) to begin the relocation, to be organized by Tulele Peisa of Buka, Bougainville. Five men from the island moved to Bougainville in early 2009 who built some houses and planted crops for their families to follow. It is planned to bring another 1700 people over the next five years. However, there has been no large-scale evacuation seem set into effect as of November 2011.
In 2007, CNN reported that the Carteret islanders will be the first island community in the world to undergo an organized relocation, in response to rising sea levels. The people of the Carteret are being called the world's first environmental refugees.
- Bayliss-Smith, Tim (October 1974). "Constraints on population growth: The case of the Polynesian Outlier Atolls in the precontact period". Human Ecology (Springer Netherlands) 2 (4): 259–295. doi:10.1007/BF01531318.
- Morrell, Benjamin (1832). A Narrative of Four Voyages to the South Sea, North and South Pacific Ocean. New York: J & J Harper. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
- "Bougainville Province Agricultural System: 02, Subsystem: 01 Page 2" (PDF). MASP Working Papers. Australian National University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-02. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
- Royle, Stephen A. (2001). A Geography of Islands. Routledge. p. 39. ISBN 1-85728-865-3.
- Roberts, Greg (30 March 2002). "Islanders face rising seas with nowhere to go". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
- "Sunk by climate change - the Cartaret Islands". Oxfam. 20 April 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-27.
- "Papua New Guinea Seismicity Map". USGS. 14 April 2011. Retrieved 2011-04-14.
- "Historic Seismicity Magnitude 5.5 New Ireland Region, Papua New Guinea". USGS. 14 April 2011. Retrieved 2011-04-14.
- "Tectonic Setting and Volcanoes of Papua New Guinea, New Britain, and the Solomon Islands". OregonStateUniversity. 14 April 2011. Retrieved 2011-04-14.
- Roberts, Greg (30 March 2002). "Islanders face rising seas with nowhere to go". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
- UNESCO I need a new home, my island has sunk, 06.06.2012
- 2. Juni 2011) Radio Australia
- Morton, Adam (29 July 2009). "First refugees start move to island home". The Age. p. 3.
- (10. November 2011) 40 atolls families to move to Buka Post Courier
- Sanjay Gupta Pacific swallowing remote island chain, CNN, Tuesday, 31 July 2007
- "Tulun" - Black and white photo reportage from 2009 Accessed 27 February 2011
- "Sinking Paradise - Carteret Islands, Papua New Guinea" United Nations University Videobrief Accessed 20 April 2009
- God Help Me and My People Carteret Islander Ursula Rakova describes her life on the island and her thoughts on losing them.
- ABC TV report on the Carteret Islands by Steve Marshall 13 March 2007
- Carteret Islands to be evacuated - Video report by Pip Starr
- Tectonic plates in region - University of North Dakota
- Estimation of current plate motions in Papua New Guinea from GPS observations - Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University,Canberra, A.C.T., Australia
- Pacific Atlantis: first climate change refugees - The Guardian 25 November 2005
- Islands battle rising seas for survival - Reuters Alertnet 23 November 2005
- Islanders face rising seas with nowhere to go - Sydney Morning Herald 30 March 2002
- Photographs taken on Tulun in 1960 - National Library of Australia
- Kilinailau Islands at the Wayback Machine (archived December 23, 2010) at oceandots.com (includes satellite image)
- http://edition.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/tech/2007/01/16/geissler.big.melt.carteret.island.itn at cnn.com (includes video coverage)
- Documentary: The Next Wave
- 2011 Oscar-nominated documentary: "Sun Come Up", which portrays the plight of the world's first climate change refugees.
- CarteretNow German/English website covering recent developments
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Thanks for stopping by for my weekly column, recapping another eventful week in Rhode Island. As always, your tips and feedback is welcome, and you can follow me on the twitters. Best wishes to my readers for Easter and Passover. Here we go.
1. Governor Gina Raimondo is arguably the biggest beneficiary of the proposed pension settlement unveiled Thursday. A multi-year, multi-tiered legal battle over Raimondo's 2011 pension overhaul loomed as a serious distraction from the governor's preferred focus on the economy. That will no longer be the case if the settlement is implemented by the May 18 deadline set by Superior Court Judge Sarah Taft-Carter. Raimondo said the settlement preserves more than 90 percent of the $4 billion in savings from the 2011 overhaul. Sure, that's less than the projected savings from the settlement offer narrowly rejected last year, and taxpayers will foot the bill for another $32 million in annual pension costs. Yet the settlement, if implemented, will also eliminate the unpredictability of what could happen in Superior Court and eventually the state Supreme Court. "To take the litigation risk off of the table is the right thing to do," Raimondo told reporters during an availability Thursday. Observers like former state Supreme Court justice Robert G. Flanders Jr. believe the state would have had the advantage in court. Even so, there might be a broader psychic benefit for the state in avoiding a protracted large-scale legal battle. Treasurer Seth Magaziner took up that theme during the availability with Raimondo. "This uncertainty issue is important for a number of reasons," Magaziner said. "The ratings agencies constantly state the uncertainty around the pension litigation as one of the factors in why our state's credit rating is below average, for example. It's a tremendous uncertainty for the business climate of the state. And don't forgot about those 50,000, 60,000 families who are in the pension system, the uncertainty for them, too, not knowing what their future is going to hold."
2. On the other hand, there's plenty to criticize with the pension settlement process, including the gag order that veiled much of the process leading to the proposed settlement .... The criteria for initial acceptance of the settlement has remained a mystery, although Frank Williams, the special master in the case, tells me it was based on a simple majority of the member unions. "We weren't going to let one [wipe out] the whole deal," Williams said. (He declined further comment, pointing to a modified gag order that remains in place.) .... Critics like RI Taxpayers and the Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity fault the settlement for leaving unanswered the legal question of whether the state can make unilateral pension changes. (Raimondo responded at her availability by calling that a valid point. “But I’m in the position of being practical," she added, "and it is my job to protect the interest of all the people of Rhode Island and this is a deal that solves a problem and allows us to move Rhode Island forward, and that is my job.”) .... Cranston Mayor Allan Fung, Raimondo's Republican opponent last year, expressed disappointment in the settlement, noting how Cranston faces both increased retirement costs and possible added legal expenses for defending against the local police and firefighters' unions that rejected the deal.
3. With the new PawSox ownership getting ready to unveil a formal proposal for a Providence ballpark, different views and theories abound. Some Providence area professionals are high on the concept of being able to go to a ballgame after work, provided taxpayers don't take a bath. Other observers clamor for using part of the Allens Avenue waterfront or the former Victory Plating site instead. Still others are convinced that a bait-and-switch is in the works that will ultimately land the PawSox near Patriots Place in Foxboro, Massachusetts, or somewhere else. To hear team president James Skeffington tell it, his ownership group is serious about using part of the former I-195 land, as a way to enhance Providence. And as Angus Davis points out on Twitter, we're hearing a lot less about the redevelopment of other parts of former highway land (although Kate Bramson had a noteworthy story Friday).
4. Setting a cap on executive compensation at not-for-profit healthcare organizations has emerged as an idea during meetings of the Raimondo administration's working group on Medicaid. "We're looking at everything as these proposals come in," Elizabeth Roberts, secretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, said during this week's RI Public Radio Bonus Q+A. "It is tough for us in government [to set rules on compensation] when we don't pay all of those bills." Roberts said. The issue is relevant since George Vecchione, the former head of Lifespan, was known for compensation that topped $9 million in 2009. More recently SEIU, 1199NE, is using a mailer, entitled "Greed is Good," to cite total compensation of more than $6 million for 19 vice presidents at Care New England and Women & Infants. According to the mailer, "Hospitals' executives should be investing in quality patient care - not lining their own pockets with Medicaid and other public dollars." Asked if Medicaid is helping subsidize compensation for local healthcare execs, Roberts said, "To the extent that Medicaid is a major payer for care at most of our healthcare providers, all of those revenue sources -- Medicare, Medicaid, Blue Cross -- all help to pay that salary."
5. In contrast to the proposed religious freedom law that generated national headlines from Indiana this week, Rhode Island's Religious Freedom Restoration Act has been a non-issue since it became law in 1993. Steve Brown of the RI ACLU said the law was passed with broad support from civil rights and religious groups in response to a 1990 US Supreme Court decision that denied the right of Native Americans to use peyote in religious ceremonies. "The purpose of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in Rhode Island and elsewhere, and in Congress which also passed a law at that time, was to try to restore that standard and provide some religious freedom to individuals under state and federal laws," Brown said. Prior to the passage of RI's law, Brown said, the ACLU sued on behalf of a Hmong family whose child had been autopsied against the family's religious wishes. "A federal court actually agreed with our position, ruled that their rights had been violated," Brown said, "and then in the interim, the United States Supreme Court issued this decision that completely overturned the precedents regarding the First Amendment. And the judge [Raymond Pettine of US District Court] was forced to reconsider his decision. And I think that prompted a lot of people in Rhode Island to recognize there was a need to try to address this issue to try to prevent tragedies like that from occurring in the future."
6. Related: Prior to the passage of Rhode Island's same-sex marriage law in 2013, opponents expressed concern that the law would infringe on the rights of florists, caterers and other merchants with a religious opposition to same-sex marriage. State Senator Harold Metts (D-Providence), a same-sex marriage opponent, said he hasn't heard anything recently about those concerns being realized. The ACLU's Steve Brown said RI's same-sex marriage law "does have some language designed to address sincere beliefs from religions about things that they can or cannot do. We think that the exemption that was put into law was more than appropriate in terms of recognizing those narrow instances when religious beliefs should trump these types of laws." (Meanwhile, the Washington Post's The Fix blog declares, "The political war over gay culture is over, and the gays have won." Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed, no enthusiast for same-sex marriage, basically said as much two years ago in explaining why the Senate passed same-sex marriage.)
7. The Rhode Island Democratic Party this week posted its delegate selection and affirmative action plan for the 2016 Democratic National Convention -- just in time for a required 30-day public comment period ahead of a DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee deadline.
8. Arnold "Buff" Chace Jr. hopes to complete the purchase of the Providence Journal Building in May, and talks are continuing about trying to retain the Journal as a tenant. "We're still in the running," Chace, who has met with the ProJo's new publisher, Janet Hasson, told me. "Hopefully, we're one of their top choices." Other sites said to be under consideration by the newspaper include One Weybosset Hill in Providence, and a site in Johnston.
9. "I am in the job of my dreams right now -- I am [a] diehard policy wonk," Health and Human Services Secretary Elizabeth Roberts told us during Bonus Q+A. Check out that segment and Political Roundtable as we talk with Roberts about Medicaid, RI's healthcare landscape, marijuana, and a host of other subjects.
10. A meta-question as Governor Raimondo's team tries to remake Medicaid, streamline tourism spending, and possibly the structure of the state's five transportation-related agencies: Will Rhode Island remain change-averse, even as its economic indicators show the need for dramatic change? Meta-meta question: Will Raimondo act on the findings after getting around to reading Ken Block's fire-services report?
11. Small World, Part I: Michael Halle, the significant other of Tara McGowan, a former deputy press secretary for Senator Jack Reed, is setting up the Iowa operation for Hillary Clinton.
13. On Thursday, the City of Providence held its first meeting, at the Rhode Island Foundation, on a "Cluster Development Strategy" for improving the city's economy. Background here.
14. In his weekly essay, Scott MacKay finds more generous social programs in some of Rhode Island's New England neighbors.
15. The Twitter Express is alive and well in 2015 -- thanks to how Judge Taft-Carter prohibited reporters covering Thursday's pension hearing from tweeting from her courtroom. Instead, a number of us heard part of what was unfolding, hastily stepped outside the fifth-floor court to share the news with the universe, and then zoomed back inside for more details. The situation reflects how the media policy for the Rhode Island courts hasn't been updated in more than 30 years, and the process was still in the works in 2013. We asked court spokesman Craig Berke for an update, and did not get a response by the deadline for TGIF.
16. H. Russell Taub, the Republican getting an early start in his 2016 challenge to First District Congressman David Cicilline, is having a reception Wednesday, April 7, 6:30 pm, at Oak Harbor Village in Exeter. The special guest is former Texas congressman Steve Stockman (not exactly a favorite of the political press), and contribution levels range from $25 to $2600.
18. Johnston-based FM Global latest Global Resilience Index rates 130 countries on potential supply chain disruptions. Norway remains tops in its class, Venezuela has problems, and Ukraine and Kazakhstan both tumbled significantly over the past year.
19. Don't look now, but Sports Illustrated picks the Red Sox for first in the AL East. Plus, Curt Schilling is not Clay Buchholz' psychologist (and neither are you)
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The Top 10 Things You Need To Know Before Buying a Liftt
It’s no fun spending a small bundle of money on what should be one of the best purchases of your life, only to be let down by the reality of an underpowered auto lift or a disreputable automotive equipment company. Here at BendPak, we hate it when we hear about fellow auto-enthusiasts getting burned by a bad deal. That’s why we devised the following checklist to help you avoid an unfavorable fate and get the car lift of your dreams.
But please, keep in mind that this is just a place to start. The first and final step will always be research. Be an informed consumer, not a victim.
10. Availability of information
Because research is such a large part of your decision-making process, you should be wary of vehicle lift companies that don’t offer you much in the way of product and company information. Reputable car lift companies are proud of their products, features and corporate achievements, so they publicly stand behind them. Generally, they’ll want to get the word out about their products to as many people as possible. If you are attempting to research an automotive lift company and you find yourself on page six of Google with no real useful information, chances are they are hiding something. Some companies will also attempt to force you to call in for more information. More often or not, this is an attempt to sell you based on salesmanship over features. Don’t be caught in the trap. When it’s easy to find the information you are looking for, you can be confident you are on the right track.
9. Who REALLY made this lift?
This one comes straight off the previous tip. There should always be a lift manufacturing company proudly placing their name on a prospective car lift. Unfortunately, many lift “brands” are just labels fabricated by small time warehouse dealers, deceptively supplying these products as their own. The vehicle lifts are actually manufactured offshore in factory sweatshops with little or no regard to worldwide standards. If you find an auto lift that interests you, be sure to search for an informative and detailed manufacturing company website or at least a brochure. Also check to see if there are multiple dealers selling the brand in your country. Some of these shady dealers will bill themselves as “exclusive suppliers,” but the truth of the matter is that if they were pedaling a truly superior product, the manufacturer would attempt to expand their business to incorporate as many dealers as possible. If you can’t find solid, verifiable information relating to the actual manufacturer of any given automotive lift or if only a very limited number of dealers even sell the lift, you are probably best off searching for alternative options.
8. Know thy garage
Sometimes sheer enthusiasm will overshadow what’s physically feasible. It’s important not to get carried away. Measure, re-measure, and re-re-measure your garage. Car lift alterations are sometimes possible, but they are rare and always costly. Double-check with local installers to find out the minimum space required to work on your new auto lift. Triple-check the physical dimensions of your favored car lift either online or over the phone. If you can, find out if anyone nearby, such as a dealership or a neighbor, already has the automotive lift you’ve got your eye on. Most vehicle lift owners are extremely proud of their car lifts and will probably be happy to give you a quick tour. Also, make sure you know where your electricity is, if you need a compressor to operate the locks and if your concrete can handle the bolts, should you be required to secure your auto lift to the floor. Basically, it comes down to really getting acquainted with your garage. One great way to keep track of everything is with a quick-reference notebook containing some of the more important dimensions of your garage, so that you are prepared with your install-site information at all times.
7. Company reputation
When you dig deeper than the marketing hype, you’ll quickly discover what others are saying about the company that makes your prospective auto lift. Online garage-themed message boards are often a fantastic resource for unfiltered opinions about your potential car lift purchase. However, it is important to realize that the condemnation or praise will often be more extreme than reality. By all means, use opinions as an additional source of information in your quest for the best car lift, but always be aware that the truth is usually somewhere in the middle. And also be on the lookout for potential shills—salesmen posing as concerned community members to make their products look better than the competition. Request proof in the form of pictures should you have any doubt about bold statements. Also, be sure to consider how long the company has been in business, as that is usually directly tied to their reputation. The longer they’ve been around, the more likely it is that they’ve taken the time to develop positive customer relationships. Established automotive lift companies also have a better chance of being around in the future to honor warranties, replace parts and generally provide solid customer service should the need arise.
6. The right price
It might seem obvious, but it bears repeating. Make sure that the value that you are getting out of your car lift matches how much you are going to pay. It doesn’t hurt to shop around for the best deal, as long as you stick to a pre-determined list of essentials that you are unwilling to compromise on. Remember: the best vehicle lift for you will rarely, if ever, be the most expensive car lift or the cheapest car lift. Instead, it will be right where the cost meets the benefit—exactly where it should be. You get what you pay for and maybe a little more if you catch a retailer during a sale.
5. The warranty
Even the best automotive lift in the world is still just a machine, so it’s susceptible to human-error and unexpected failures (though potential devastating effects can be greatly minimized with the correct systems in place—more on that below). Honest car lift companies realize this and offer warranties on the frame, the moving parts and the labor at varying levels depending on their pricing structures. Warranties usually come standard with purchase, but can often be extended to cover years or even the entire life of the auto lift in some cases. Take this as a good sign that the car lift manufacturer not only stands behind their product, but is willing to put their money where their collective mouth is. Just don’t forget to research how long an auto lift business has been around to determine if it’s the real deal or all just empty promises.
4. The ALI seal of approval
The Automotive Lift Institute’s certification is the only nationally recognized standard for car lifts of all designs. They are a non-partial coalition of engineers, designers, industry experts and professionals who rely on third-party laboratory testing methods to recommend and test industry-class safety measures far above those set by any government or municipal agency. What happens when you purchase a non-approved car lift? We urge you to investigate thoroughly as many business owners quickly find themselves on the short end of a long battle once their local inspectors levy penalties for non-compliance or worse yet, shut down their business entirely. Yes, it can and does happen.
Nonetheless, ALI / ETL certification is a hot-button issue in the automotive lifting industry. It’s no easy feat to join the Automotive Lift Institute, let alone build a car lift that passes certification. Aside from the expenses involved, ALI sets extremely strict UL, ETL and ANSI manufacturing safety standards that must be met in order to qualify for certification. While you’re on the hunt for the perfect automotive lift, it’s very likely that you’ll find a plethora of non-certified lifts out on the market.
ALI standard exists for one reason: to make car lifts as safe as possible for people who aren’t able to eyeball good or bad mechanical workmanship from a mile away. If you happen to be an expert on engineering, tensile strengths and redundant safety systems under load, then you might feel comfortable purchasing an automotive lift that hasn’t been certified. But if you want a safe piece of garage equipment along with peace of mind, your best bet is to go with an ALI / ETL approved car lift. Remember, the largest and most respected auto lift brands in the world are members of the Automotive Lift Institute and submit to ALI testing and retesting for just about every product they develop, so clearly it’s a priority to them. It’s up to you to decide how big of a priority ALI / ETL certification is to you, personally. That’s what will help you ultimately make your decision while you’re trying to decide on which auto lift to purchase.
Naturally, we recommend that you give a strong preference to ALI / ETL certified car lifts, or at the very least, to a name you’ve got a good reason to trust.
For more information on BendPak’s stand, read here.
3. Customer support
This goes hand in hand with reputation. Sure, lots of car lift companies will be sweet as sugar when they are taking your cash, but where are they when something doesn’t exactly go according to plan? Once again, it all goes back to research. By now, you’ve probably narrowed down your selection to a couple of options. Go ahead and read up on what each prospective company offers in the way of customer support, but don’t forget to call into their support number, too. Once you get a hold of someone on the other end, you should be able to gauge fairly quickly their general attitude, if they have a multi-location service network geographically located across all parts of the country, if they are located in the US and their overall knowledge about products and services. Quiz them a little bit about their return policy, their warranties, how quickly they can get a repair part to you or have someone come out and look at your equipment should you have a problem. Let’s be honest, in the event that you need to talk to someone, your patience is going to be under much more strain then when you do your test call. If you find yourself frustrated during this little exercise, chances are you’re looking at the wrong company.
2. The features you want
If the car lift you buy doesn’t have the features you wanted, what the heck did you get it for in the first place!
This requires a little bit of foresight on your part. Not only do you have to determine the heaviest thing you’re likely going to need to lift, but also how closely the vehicle runs to the ground, the physical dimensions of the largest and the smallest vehicle you’re going to lift and whether or not you’re going to want to easily move your car lift around on casters. Your best bet for future-proofing your car lift is to go with a manufacturer who not only has the features you want, but also offers a lot of optional equipment in the event your needs change. Find out if your chosen automotive lift company offers extra tall, extra wide, short, narrow, asymmetrical and clear floor model versions to better fit your personal automotive lifting needs. Ask if they offer truck and van adapters, telescoping arms, bridge jacks, specialized contact pads, casters and frame extensions. Your lift’s ability to adapt to the new and unexpected will be the key to your satisfaction for years to come.
1. Real engineering
Finally, do not settle for a piece of rebranded generic junk. Make sure your prospective car lift came from the minds and hands of a dedicated team of engineers who were dead-set on making their auto lift the best it could be. If someone took pride in designing your automotive lift, chances are you’ll take lots of pride in owning it. Also, lifting operation tends to be much smoother when human minds thought more about how you were going to use the lift and less about shoving a product out the door.
Follow these ten guidelines and you’re practically guaranteed to end up with the car lift that’s just right for you. And for some information on how BendPak stacks against the rest, check out: "A Study In lift Design."
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Some Christians look at the men and women recorded in the Bible as "super saints." People whose images are rightly captured on stained-glass windows. Those whose sacrificial service to the King of kings is beyond the grasp of normal, regular, every day Christians.But this is not how the Apostle Paul viewed himself. Paul urged Christians in Corinth to be imitators of him. Twice (1 Corinthians 4:16, 11:1). He said similar things to Christians in his other letters. See, for example, Ephesians 5:1; 1 Thessalonians 1:6, 2:14; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-9; Hebrews 6:12, 13:7; and 3 John 1:11. Paul said this instruction of imitating him and his conduct is something he teaches everywhere he goes:
Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church. (1 Corinthians 4:16-17)
What's worse, this attitude on behalf of the "normal Christian" is often veiled in modesty. But it has its roots in a spirit of pride. It falsely views the Christian walk as something we do. This is contrary to the correct understanding that it is something that God has done and will continue to do (Galatians 3:1-3).
When we say that our walk cannot be like Paul's, we are not being modest. We aren't being humble. Instead, we are insulting the grace of God. Perhaps not on purpose. But it's still an insult. We are insisting that God is not able to do in us what He has done in our brothers and sisters before us. Our problem is not an inability to be like Paul and these "super saints." Really, the problem is an unwillingness to die to self that Christ might live through us.
Paul's letter to the Christians in Corinth expressed his heart and method for dying to self. Paul allowed the grace of God and Christ in him to act powerfully for the advance of the glory of God. Paul viewed himself, not as a "super saint," but as a servant and as a steward.
Everyone had an opinion of Paul. Some liked what he was doing. Others did not. But Paul was unconcerned about how others viewed him. The judgment of men didn't matter. He instructed Christians not to be deceived about themselves, either. To our own Master we stand and fall. Therefore, Christ's opinion of us is the only one that matters.
Are you concerned with the opinions of others? Or are you consumed with pleasing the God who loved you and redeemed you with the precious blood of Christ (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Revelation 5:9)?
If you are a Christian, you must understand that you are no longer your own. You have been purchased at a price with the precious blood of Christ for God and His glory. As the redeemed, you are called to imitate Paul's ways in Christ. You, too, should identify yourself as a servant of Christ. As a steward of the mysteries of God.
In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy. (1 Corinthians 4:2)The concept of being a servant and a steward is not common in our culture. Yet, the Scriptures have been delivered to us from the living God who reigns as a righteous King and whose kingdom extends over all the kingdoms of the earth (Psalm 103:19). God has delivered the faith to His saints once and for all (Jude 1:3). We are supposed to protect and care for this revealed faith. This revelation from the living God and Creator of all things is what we are to steward for the praise and glory of His name.
I don't make this charge lightly. I'll never forget the first time I stood up to preach from the prophet Nahum. After the sermon, I was approached by a brother in Christ who has faithfully attended church nearly every Sunday for about 30 years. He chuckled and said, "When you said open your Bibles to Nahum, I thought you were kidding. I didn't even know that was a book in the Bible!"
As I've witnessed the gospel of Christ to thousands and thousands of people over the past decade, I have met many people from different places, who identify as different flavors of Christian (Baptist, Non-denominational, Presbyterian, etc.), yet who likewise have no real idea of the basic content of the Scriptures. This is by their own admission.
Our God is not a wishy-washy God. He has taken great care to reveal Himself and His plan through the Scriptures and through His Son (Hebrews 1:1-2). Our task as servants and stewards is to know and understand this revelation from God so that we may walk according to His good will and pleasure for His glory. It is not our task to pick and choose which portions of Scripture to obey and emphasize and to ignore the rest. It is also not our task to go beyond what is written.
Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us you may learn not to exceed what is written, so that no one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one against the other. For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? (1 Corinthians 4:6-7)
As followers of Christ, we serve the same Master. One body. One Spirit. One Lord. One faith. One baptism. One God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. Our allegiance is not to our denomination. It's not to our culture. It's not to our political parties, hobbies, or pet doctrines. It is to Christ. As such, we who have been purchased by the blood of Christ are not enemies of each other. We are brothers and sisters in the family of God! Yet, most of the fighting I hear between professing believers is speculation on theological implications that go well beyond that which is written.
Going beyond what is written happens all the time. Many Christians have no idea what is written. They haven't taken the time to diligently read and understand what is written by reading, reading, and reading their Bible some more.
Have you dedicated yourself to this pursuit? How many times have you read through your Bible, cover to cover? More than 20? Less than 5?
I've heard all the excuses:
I don't have time.
I'm very busy.
You don't understand. With my job, I simply can't read my Bible every day.
It's not a lack of time. It's a lack of proper prioritization. I don't say this to discourage you or anyone else. I say it to encourage you to take your stewardship seriously as it ought to be taken.
What much of modern Christianity has forgotten (or, simply never been taught) is that if you are a Christian, your job is first and foremost a servant of Christ and a steward of the mysteries of God. Whatever other tasks and responsibilities God has given to you, you are to exercise in subordination to your primary calling as a servant and steward. Not the other way around!
Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. (Colossians 3:23-24)
I repeat: Our problem is not an inability to be like Paul and these "super saints." Really, it's an unwillingness to die to self that Christ might live through us like Paul did.
For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor. To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now. (1 Corinthians 4:9-13)
In our present, North American context, it sure seems like Paul's description of the Corinthian state is much to be desired! These believers are prudent, strong, distinguished, and comfortable.
Yet, Paul does not commend them in this. Instead, he tells them to be like him and the other Apostles. He even points out that their current view of themselves could be considered shameful.
I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. (1 Corinthians 4:14-16)
Imitators of Paul. A spectacle to the world. A fool for the sake of Christ. Weak. Without honor. Hungry and thirsty. Poorly clothed. Roughly treated. Homeless. A hard worker who blesses when reviled, endures when persecuted, and tries to reconcile when slandered. Scum and dregs.
On our own, and in our strength, this is impossible. But praise God for His grace and power which is so readily available to all who call on Him and rest in Him!
But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I shall find out, not the words of those who are arrogant but their power. For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power. (1 Corinthians 4:19-20)
If the grace of God is active in your life, then the same power that made a weak and fearful man like Paul a powerful servant and steward of the mysteries of God is active in you.
And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)
And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)
If you are a follower of Christ, it is required that you be found trustworthy (1 Corinthians 4:2).
He is worthy of nothing less.
You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
Of course, James isn't disagreeing with Paul in Ephesians 2:8-9, but is saying without us walking in the works God has prepared for us (Ephesians 2:10), then whatever "faith" we have is not a saving faith, but a dead faith!
The Protestant church culture today has a very low view of grace (in reality) while professing a high one. This "grace" is able to save and preserve for the next life, but makes little difference in the present! Biblical descriptions of grace are much different. Biblical grace is transformative and enables us to live lives that are pleasing to God (not ourselves!).
Jesus asked His disciples, Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord," and do not do what I say? (Luke 6:46)
It's a good question.
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Diversity and Inclusion
In November 2016, the Ad Hoc Committee on Diversity and Inclusion was created. The Committee's goal, under the chairmanship of Caroline Andrew, a full professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences, was to gather as much information as possible to guide our University’s efforts in eliminating barriers to inclusion and to ensure that diversity becomes a criterion of excellence on our campus.
The University has also carried out a study on equity, diversity and inclusion among faculty, in collaboration with the Association of Professors of the University of Ottawa (APUO). The report, presented by a joint APUO-UOttawa committee, provides various means to better illustrate the situation of our professors and researchers. It pays particular attention to pay equity and the hiring process, especially for Canada Research Chairs.
Both reports shine a light on the many challenges to overcome in order to become a model of inclusion and diversity. They equally address a number of questions, and provide recommendations touching on a variety of issues, which the newly appointed Special Advisor will be able to assess in the course of her upcoming mandate.
Appointment of a Special Advisor
To mobilize our resources and maintain momentum in light of these two reports, Steffany Bennett, holder of the University Research Chair in Neurolipidomics and professor in the Faculty of Medicine, has been appointed as a Special Advisor, Diversity and Inclusion, for a two-year period. Her mandate will include analyzing the main elements identified in these reports and developing an action plan. She will also provide expert advice to the University community on issues of diversity and inclusion. Her full mandate is as follows:
The University of Ottawa is committed to ensuring equity, diversity and inclusion in the scholarly and leadership environments of our students, staff, and faculty. To support this commitment, the President has created the position of Special Advisor to the President on Diversity and Inclusion, reporting directly to the President and working collaboratively with all units and members of the university community. The Special Advisor’s mandate covers all matters relating to any grounds enumerated under the Ontario Human Rights Code, including race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, family status or disability.
The Special advisor will focus on achieving a number of objectives in key areas relevant to the portfolio:
- Review existing uOttawa recommendations and reports related to equity, diversity, racialization, and inclusion (and other related external policies that affect uOttawa in these regards). Specifically, analyze the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee (EDIC) report and the “Report to the Rector of the University of Ottawa, Diversity and Inclusion: Challenge and Promise” and propose the elements of an action plan for the next two years and beyond;
- Use “gender-based analysis plus” methodologies to identify barriers to implementation of proposed recommendations, identify steps needed to remove those barriers including the financial and human resources constraints; and
- Propose best practices on diversity and inclusion issues. Recommend and advocate for policies and practices promoting gender, diversity, and disability equity for racialized faculty and staff including, but not limited to research support, nominations for awards, advancement opportunities, conditions of employment, and hiring practices.
Collection of Data
- Ensure that uOttawa properly collects and disseminates the necessary data for benchmarking and comparative analysis of (a) the current level of recruitment, retention, compensation, and the advancement of male, female, racialized faculty and staff and under-represented groups, and (b) changes in these levels over time.
Advancement and Leadership
- Review, advocate for, and recommend opportunities for education, professional skill-building, mentoring, and cross-faculty and cross-disciplinary interactions for underrepresented faculty and staff with respect to leadership and career development;
- Provide thought leadership and serve as a resource to uOttawa senior administrative and academic leadership on matters of significance to underrepresented, discouraged, or marginalized persons on any grounds enumerated under this mandate;
- Advise the president and the Administration Committee on every dossier being brought forward in order to provide counsel on systemic discrimination;
- When necessary, participate to national or international conferences on diversity and inclusion issues;
- Keep informed about the developments on Indigenous issues without intervening directly except where there is joint agreement to do so;
- Liaise with the community on diversity and inclusion issues;
- Liaise with the Human Rights Office when needed;
- Report to the President, his team and the Administration Committee on a regular basis;
- Submit to the President, in a timely manner, a list of actions to be implemented that identifies priorities, timelines, and measures to evaluate the success of implementation;
- Contribute to the preparation of the next strategic plan concerning diversity and inclusion issues.
- Chair the standing committee on diversity and inclusion; and
- Generally, advise the President on any issue bearing on diversity and inclusion issues at the uOttawa campus.
Within 18 months from the beginning of the mandate, and taking into account the lessons learned, the Special Advisor will propose specific recommendations concerning the optimal treatment of diversity and inclusion issues.
- Report to the President: Diversity and Inclusion - Challenge and Promise (PDF 2.64MB)
- Report of the APUO-Employer Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee (PDF 1.79MB)
Reports of the Sub-Committees of the Committee on Diversity and Inclusion:
- Admissions Equity Policy
- Employment Equity
- Gender in Teaching Staff
- Disabilities, Mental Health and Wellness, Recreation and Sport
- Mental Health
- Part-time Professors
- Teaching and Learning
- Transgender Issues
Surveys of the Committee on Diversity and Inclusion
- University of Ottawa Diversity and Inclusion Survey
- Qualitative Survey by Michelle Massie Marketing
- Manual Coding of English and French campus climate narrative
- Perceptions of Campus Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Ottawa: Marketing Segmentation Analysis Results
To obtain a copy of the sub-committee reports or the quantitative or qualitative surveys, please contact the President's Office by e-mail at [email protected]
Ad Hoc Committee on Diversity and Inclusion
The Ad-hoc Committee on Diversity and Inclusion acted as a “think tank,” reflecting on questions relative to diversity and inclusion at the University of Ottawa. The committee collected, analyzed and interpreted data in order to draw up recommendations and proposes the implementation of concrete measures aimed at diversity and inclusion.
The Committee was made up of full-time professors from each of the University’s nine faculties, part-time professors, researchers, members of the administrative staff, undergraduate and graduate students.
- Provide an overview of the current situation with regard to inclusion for three groups of University of Ottawa community members: professors, students and support staff.
- Determine systemic barriers to inclusion, along with these three groups (consultation plan).
- Produce a report describing the current situation, proposing University diversity-related objectives and concrete action to achieve genuine inclusion for students, support staff and professors. The report can also make recommendations concerning an institutional framework for matters relating to diversity and inclusion.
The objective of this Ad Hoc Committee is to work on:
- Eliminating barriers to the achievement of genuine inclusion
- Making diversity a criterion of excellence within the university community overall (support staff, students and professors) so that the University of Ottawa becomes a model in this area.
The Committee will address inclusion as it relates to the Ontario Human Rights Code protected grounds.
List of Members
- Caroline Andrew, Distinguished University Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences
- Sophie Thériault, Vice-Dean Graduate Studies and Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Civil Law Section
- Rakhi Ruparelia, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Common Law Section
- Catherine Tsilfidis, Associate Professor and holder of the Donald and Joy Maclaren Chair for Vision Research, Faculty of Medicine
- Christabelle Sethna, Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences
- Holly Johnson, Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences
- Catherine Mavriplis, Associate Professor, Faculty of Engineering, and NSERC–Pratt & Whitney Canada Chair for Women in Science and Engineering
- Craig Phillips, Faculty of Health Sciences
- Ruth Kane, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education
- Sharon L. O’Sullivan, Associate Professor, Telfer School of Management
- Ravi Pendakur, Full Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences
- Christina De Simone, Professor, Faculty of Education
- Martine Lagacé, Vice-Dean Governance and Secretary, and professor, Faculty of Arts
- Fernando Mata, Faculty of Social Sciences
- Gordon DiGiacomo, Faculty of Social Sciences
- Houssein Charmarkeh, Faculty of Arts
- Marc Rahme, Faculty of Health Sciences
- Shahad Khalladi, Faculty of Science
- Malika Osman, faculties of Social Sciences and Arts
- Imane Hamich, Telfer School of Management
- Abdullah Al-Haj, Faculty of Health Sciences
- David Couturier, Faculty of Social Sciences
- Gaëlle Faye, Telfer School of Management
- Radamis Zaky, Faculty of Social Sciences
- Saeideh Kheradmand, Faculty of Engineering
- Claudia Pricilia Chandra, Telfer School of Management
- Haoyu Wu, Faculty of Engineering
Support staff (non-managers)
- Sean Ford, Systems Analyst, Information Technology
- Melanie Miles, Human Resources Generalist, Office of the Vice-President, Research
- Carole Bourque, Diversity and Inclusion Specialist, Human Rights Office
- Sébastien Pilon, Aboriginal Resource Centre
- Olfa Labassi, Projects Coordinator, Faculty of Law, Civil Law Section
- Lisa Abel, Aboriginal Program Coordinator, Undergraduate Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine
Support staff (managers)
- Sonya Nigam, Director, Human Rights Office
- Françoise Moreau-Johnson, Manager, Centre for Academic Leadership
- Manon Desgroseilliers, Manager, Institutional Research and Planning
- Manon Dugal, Senior Director, Human Resources
- Aline Germain-Rutherford, Associate Vice-President, Teaching and Learning Support Service
- Caroline Tremblay, Senior Manager, Office of the President
- Susan Hylland, Director, Sports Services
- Julie Vaillancourt, Facilities
- Jeremy Cassidy, Student Academic Success Service
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Top 10 Pet-Friendly Cities
The best places to eat, stay and play with your furry mates
By Sandy Robins
updated 6:58 a.m. PT, Wed., Oct . 10, 2007
As it becomes more common for people to travel with their pets, cities around the country are beginning to appreciate the discernible impact the doggie dollar is having on their economy. Consequently, many are reacting to this tug on their purse strings by making an all-out bid to label themselves pet-friendly on the tourist map.
But what does it mean for a city to adopt this title? Generally-speaking, “pet-friendly” can be equated with “dog-friendly” as canines are undoubtedly America’s most well-traveled animals.
For the last three years, the editors at Dog Fancy, one of the country’s leading canine-centric magazines, have compiled a list of the best cities in the U.S. to be a dog, naming San Diego as this year’s winner of their DogTown USA award. Chicago and Portland Ore., topped the polls in previous years.
“It takes a lot to create a city that truly embraces its canine population,” says editor Susan Chaney. “We look at over 20 criteria. Naturally, it has to be a fun place for dogs and their owners. For example, we check into dog-centered activities, such as doggie festivals, parades and other events, as well as how many hotels are dog-friendly and how many restaurants allow dogs to eat on their patios. However, excellent veterinary care and an active humane society are also key elements of a pet-friendly city, and are as essential for travelers passing through as for the pets and their people who reside there. Further, it’s clear that in the cities on our annual list, both the local government and general population embrace having that ‘doggie element’ in their communities.”
Here are suggestions to have fun with your pet in 10 cities that have been collared pet-friendly.
The warm Californian climate makes this a year-round animal playground, and there’s a wonderful selection of both pet-friendly and off-leash beaches. The Otay Ranch Town Shopping Center has an off-leash park as part of this sprawling facility, making this a one-stop entertainment center for both pets and their people. A pet sitting service is provided at $5 an hour so that pet parents can enjoy a meal in one of numerous eateries. Seaside La Jolla boasts a selection of pet-friendly restaurants such as the Nine-Ten Restaurant and Bar on Prospect Street that offers great sea views from its outdoor patio. In addition, your dog may enjoy a kayaking excursion around La Jolla Bay — although pet life jackets are provided, dogs should be good swimmers.
Long Beach, Calif.
Belmont Shore is fast gaining a nationwide reputation for hosting several annual pet parades and doggie beauty contests, such as the Easter and the Howl o’ween parades and the Most Beautiful Bulldog competition that draws contestants from near and far. The city also has the only off-leash dog beach in L.A. County. Situated between Roycroft and Argonne Avenues, it’s open daily year-round. All the stores that line Second Street are pet-friendly offering bowls of cool fresh water and lots of doggie treats. Pet parents will enjoy crepes and crisp salads at La Creperie while their canines snooze and watch the passing parade. The French bistro-styled eatery hosts a popular bar in the evenings and you can enjoy the soft sounds of live jazz.
Without doubt the pet-friendly Cypress Inn on Lincoln Street is a tourist attraction in its own right and is widely recognized to have pioneered many of the pet-friendly policies practiced by many of the large hotel chains and private inns around the country today. Co-owned by the legendary Doris Day, it’s filled with memorabilia of this Hollywood star. Your pet will particularly enjoy snoozing in front of a roaring log fire in the lounge, while you enjoy a pre-dinner sherry. Walking tours are a great way to discover the town’s scenic charms, and dogs will enjoy the smells along the way. Cats are regulars at this fur-friendly inn too.
Traveling and touring can be thirsty work. The Lucky Labrador Brewing Company is a great place for both beer and man’s best friends. The brews with dog-inspired names cater for all tastes. Looking for a little perk-me-up? The Iron Mutt Coffee Company will ensure that you get a great caffeine fix while your pooch enjoys fresh eats and a complimentary biscuit. The Portland Saturday Market located under the Burnside Bridge between S.W. Naito Parkway and S.W. 1st Ave. offers an eclectic mix of merchandise and is a great place to stroll and shop. There’s no shortage of off-leash dog parks in the city — be sure to visit the Hoyt Arboretum on S.W. Fairview Boulevard. that offers canine visitors more than 185 acres of greenery to enjoy.
For travelers who enjoy visiting historical points of interest and appreciate beautiful scenery, be sure to add a trip to Blake Island State Park the ancestral campground of the Suquamish and Duwamish Indian Tribes and believed to be the birthplace of Chief Seattle. Foodies (and that includes your dog) will enjoy Chinook salmon cooked Northwest Coast Indian-style around an open alder wood fire.
The Pensione Nichols Bed and Breakfast on 1st Ave. in downtown Seattle is a well located pet-friendly establishment. Well-behaved leashed dogs of all sizes are allowed on the buses and trains throughout the city. Dogs on leashes are also allowed at the tables on the patio atCrave on 12th Ave. (only operative in the summer). Madison Park Café on 42nd Ave. E. is another attractive garden setting and welcomes pets. And if you have time, add Norm’s Eatery and Ale House on 36th St. to your list. This laid-back pub is named after a dog and your pet will feel more than welcome here too.
If you’re a baseball fan, diarize the White Sox annual Dog Day baseball game each spring. This cosmopolitan city has lots of pet-friendly places to visit, a wide selection of outdoor cafes and pet-friendly bars. Upscale hotels such as the luxurious Hotel Burnham and Hotel Monaco both welcome dogs of all sizes. Lake Michigan, a focal point of the city, offers more than 18 miles of paved trails that trace the lake’s edge. Want to take a lake cruise? Many boat operators will happily take Fido along too. And if your dog is getting bored with eating kibble, be sure to dine at Cucina Bella on N. Sedgwick or the branch on W. Diversey where he will be served a complimentary bowl of pasta.
Some of the most fashionable hotels in this city can be a temporary home away from home for your dog, including the trendy Soho Grand Hotel. (For travelers who can’t bring their pets, the Grand offers a complimentary goldfish at check in, and will bag it for take-home.) Despite being a concrete jungle, there’s a lot for pets to enjoy in the Big Apple — a carriage ride through Central Park is a must-do activity. Many upscale stores also welcome well-behaved pets, and if Fido will sit quietly, you can drool over the jewelry at Tiffany’s on Fifth Avenue.The NYC Dog Walking Tour visits such neighborhoods as Greenwich Village, Soho, Lower East Side and Little Italy. A special highlight is a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge at dusk. Be sure to visit the William Secord Gallery on East 76th St. that specializes in 19th Century dog art — your pooch is welcome to browse too. And if you want your dog’s portrait painted, it can be arranged it at a price.
Be sure to visit Sam Snead’s, on E. Pine Street. It was here that Governor Jeb Bush signed Florida’s doggy dining law that allows dogs to sit with their owners in an outside location. Both dogs and owners can have fun meandering the paved paths of the Paw Park of Historic Sanford and cooling off at the misting tower. Because of Orlando’s location to Disney World, Universal Studios and other theme parks, there are lots of pet-friendly hotels in the immediate area; and the theme parks will pet-sit your dog while you go off and enjoy the rides. One place dogs are especially welcome is in Celebration on U.S. 192, a tiny town created by Disney with a population of around 2000. Downtown Celebration is a lively mix of retail shops, restaurants, offices and apartments that line a wide promenade circling the lake in the center of town.
Colorado Springs, Colo.
Colorado Springs is all about nature and the great outdoors. Hiking and walking trails abound, making this an excellent pet destination. Pets are welcome at the Bear Creek Nature Center, as well as the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. Preserved under a protective red sandstone overhang, the authentic Anasazi dwellings were built more than 700 years ago. The Garden of the Gods Park is another popular natural landmark. With its towering sandstone formations, paved and unpaved hiking paths, it’s a great place to enjoy various outdoor amenities. Dogs are allowed off leash in the area east of Rock Ledge Ranch & south of Gateway Road. Tucked away in the foothills of the famous Pikes Peak region of the Rockies, your pet will be in the lap of luxury at the grand Broadmoor Hotel. This five-star resort is set in 3,000 acres of manicured gardens acres against a backdrop of breathtaking scenery. There are three golf courses, gorgeous shops and pet sitters on hand to give pet parents some alone time to enjoy any one of the complex’s 15 restaurants.
Austin boasts 12 off-leash parks for doggy fun and games. In particular, canines love to cool of in the natural creek in Bull Creek District Park and Greenbelt on Lakewood Drive. Pooches are also welcome to tour the city in a horse-drawn carriage, a popular pastime, so it’s best to call ahead. The Spider House Patio Bar and Café on Fruth Street, on the edge of the University of Texas campus, is a popular student hang-out and is reputed to make the best espresso in town. If you enjoy ribs (and what dog can resist) Artz Rib House on S. Lamar Boulevard will draw you with its irresistible aromas. Stock up on special treats such as PeaMutt Butter Pleasers and Yummy Chummies at the Groovy Dog Bakery on Baylor Street. Finally be sure to visit Plush Pad on W. Anderson Lane and buy your pooch a cowboy hat — a great souvenir to take home from the Lone Star State.
Sandy Robins is an award-winning pet lifestyle writer. She is a member of both the Dog Writers Association of America and the Cat Writer’s Association of America. She lives in Southern California with a menagerie of well-traveled pets.
© 2009 msnbc.com. Reprints
© 2009 MSNBC.com
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Dynamics GP: Planning for Security Keeping up-to-date on security features is challenging for any size business. Making your computer system secure without sacrificing usability isn’t easy. In fact, careful planning is absolutely necessary to ensure a secure system that works for you. Whether you’re worried about hackers, phishing, or internal breaches, there is a security solution to help you protect your critical data.
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Features and Functions
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At the moment there is considerable interest in plant proteins as an ingredient especially for vegetarian if not vegan foods. Back in 2018, the whole plant protein based market was valued at USD 16.45 Billion and is now expected to reach USD 40.53 Billion by 2025. That is a staggering CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 13.75% over the forecasting period (Pharmweb, 2021).
Adoption of a vegan diet is probably the key factor in this rise but what are the specific motivations. We may not be vegans but there are a large number of flexitarians out there. Plenty of market research studies suggest a number of factors encouraging not only take-up of the diet but a more general approach to using plant proteins.
Plant based proteins are a good food source. They are derived mainly from a range including soy, wheat, nuts, pea, lentil, peanuts, seeds, tofu, potato, rice and many others. Plant proteins are excellent sources of vitamins and minerals as well as dietary fibre.
Even in the absence of the pandemic caused by COVID-19, plant protein as a newish food source was garnering consumer interest. A number of entrepreneurial food developers have been exploiting plant proteins in all sorts of applications.
Some of the sources which have pointing out the drivers reveal some startling statistics. Roughly a quarter of all global consumers are ‘extremely interested’ to know more about the role of plant proteins in their food whilst a much larger percentage (41 per cent) are just interested but significantly so (Google Trends, 2019). That means, about 65% of consumers, two-thirds nearly, have some significant interest in plant proteins as a food ingredient.
The same Google trends source found that 70 per cent of consumers rate plant proteins as a ‘good protein’. If you delve deeper we find a rising interest in plant-based protein that has grown year on year since 2015. Part of this interest is cutting down on the consumption of animal products and adopting a vegetarian or even vegan lifestyle.
New Launches In Vegan Foods Up to 2020
More and more foods are catering for the vegan/vegetarian lifestyle. A Mintel GNPD & Health Foods International report for 2020 (2020a) revealed the share of vegan or non-animal ingredients claim had more than doubled in the last 5 years. Roughly 10.5% of all food product launches were in vegetarian foods whilst there had been a rise from 3.4% in 2015 to 5% of all launches in vegan or animal-free ingredient products. The vegetarian claim is static but stable at that 10.5% value whilst the vegan claims are currently rising.
There is an opportunity then that lies beyond becoming a vegan or just a vegetarian. Not everyone wants to be vegan but everyone wants more of what a plant has to offer.
If you look around the globe then you see slightly different trends appearing.
In the Americas for example, 20% of consumers want to avoid dairy products, 30% want to reduce their meat intake, 7% have become vegetarian and 5% are now vegan. In Europe, 18% of consumers avoid dairy products, 27% reduce their meat intake whilst 7% are also vegetarian and 4% are vegan. In Asia, 28% avoid dairy products, 40% recued their meat intake, 16% are vegetarian and 13% are now vegan.
What the figures from these three big regions tells us is that there is a large proportion willing to reduce dairy and meat intakes. That market is certainly sizeable.
What Are The Drivers Of Plant-Based Nutrition?
- Health is the number 1 major motivator
At least 70% of us say that promoting long-term health is either extremely or very important as a driver. About 62% say that having just more energy is a key driver too.
A number of consumers (Voxpopme, 2019) will make statements like: “I have increased ny plant-based foods because I do think that it is necessary to get all the nutrients and all the good things from those plant-based foods“.
For many of us then, plant-based foods are considered more healthy, period.
- We have significant environmental concerns
59% surveyed who chose plant-based foods say that the environment and sustainability are either extremely or just very important drivers. At the Golden Globe Awards for example last year, this was an event that wanted to send the right message by offering only plant-based catering.
One consumer interviewed (Voxpopme, 2019) stated that ‘paying attention to plant-based foods is something that’s important to me just because while I may not be vegan or vegetarian it’s still being conscious of what’s going on in the world. And eating things that are a little bit more sustainable than actually killing animals.’
Garden Gourmet, a Nestlé brand for example who make plant based burgers, sausages and mince now claim to have an 80% less carbon footprint, 75% less land use and 80% less energy use. These are claims tapping into consumer concerns.
- Taste and novelty matter
Taste and novelty truly matters – 60% of flexitarians say its about taste preference. So, 32% of UK consumers agree that plant-based diets are boring in flavour. Creating a better taste is important and a number of consumers feel this aspect which used to hold them back on eating plant based proteins has improved in recent years.
What we want as one consumer put it: ‘It is just amazing to me when you eat the substitutes, when you eat those plant based substitutes, it just amazes me how good it tastes‘.
The product formulators have been tackling three different categories of food. These are:-
- meat alternatives – mimicking taste and texture of real meat products
- dairy alternatives – not just about beverages but plant-based diversification into cheese, yoghurt, desserts, ice creams etc.
- egg alternatives – egg replacers for vegan baked goods – their is a rising trend in vegan baking because of the appearance of these egg replacers.
Again, a look at some of the producers such as Garden Gourmet can offer sausages made from soy that have the taste and smell of sausages. Their burgers are made with similar ingredients and offer high quality sensory experiences. One other indication that the plant nutrition market is burgeoning is that the marketplace is becoming saturated with meat replacement products. Even large FMCG businesses are having to reposition their new brands to meet the challenges posed by smaller, agile businesses.
One positive in all this. We really still want that ‘meat’ taste because we enjoy that particular flavour. It’s most likely we will not be weaned off it any time soon irrespective of the fine nutritional value in plant proteins.
Focus On Plant Proteins
What are the top five plant protein alternatives for meat replacement?
At the moment the wheat and soy command over two-thirds of the marketplace. The values according to a number of global reports are:
- Wheat protein (38.8%)
- Soybean proteins (38.7%)
- Cereal gluten (24.3%)
- Pea protein (16.o%)
- Mycoprotein (8.3%)
The top five plant proteins for replacement in dairy products are:
- Pea protein (14.12%)
- Soybean proteins (7.5%)
- Soy protein isolate (4.4%)
- Rice protein (1.0%)
- Potato protein (0.6%)
At the moment there are some excellent examples of dairy products where plant protein has replaced whey. Roar (Froneri Int. Ltd, UK ) offer three products at the moment hemp Seed Chocolate Brownie, Hazelnut Chocolate Cookie and Coconut Mango passionfruit Oat Cookie. They also emphasize no palm oil and are UTZ certified. The plant proteins are wheat flour, oats, hemp etc.
What Is The Impact Of COVID-19 On Global Plant Protein Nutrition?
Covid-19 is giving a lot more consumers across the world a new reason to cut back on foods of animal origin. Because of how the pandemic arose with transmission of the virus from animals, proves to some people that they should eat fewer animals (Mintel, 2020b). Most people are actually ambivalent about what they eat but similar numbers to those stating they would not eat animals now agree with the idea of cutting back on sources of animal foods. Essentially, consumers just want to include more plant-based foods in their diet for all the reasons we cited earlier about key drivers.
In the global sense we can see different shifts in thinking for various regions. The highest shift in change in opinion about moving to plant protein is highest in South and Central America (30% and 40% respectively). The change is 27% in North America but only 20.4% in Europe. It suggests that Europeans are being slightly more conservative than their counterparts in the Americas. This was data offered up by FMCG Gurus in their COVID-19, 18 Countries Survey of July, 2020.
The types of food that consumers are changing to with the use of plant proteins is also a pause for reflection. It means a there are some significant shifts in diet. Consumers have adopted the following product types where plant is now replacing meat or diary. The percentages reflect what food types they intend to consume where plant proteins have been the replacement :
- meat (37%)
- milk (34%)
- meals (26%)
- other (21%) – not really elaborated upon
- yoghurt (14%)
- cheese (13%)
- ice cream 12%
Google Trends (2019) Foresight Factory, Worldwide February
Health Focus International (2020), Global Trends Study. 2020
New Nutrition Business (2020), 10 key Trends in Food, Nutrition & Health 2020
Voxpopme (2019) Survey US 2019
Mintel GNPD (2020a), Plant based yogurt and drinks & meat substitutes with protein claim, Jan 2018 – June 2020
Mintel GNPD (2020b) Plant based foods on a post-COVID 19 world. August 2020
Pharmweb.com (2021) Plant based protein Market Report 2021: Research Findings, Analyst Introduction, Data Source, Methodology till 2027. (Article) Accessed 21st January 2021.
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So it appears my last post was about July 2014 (about 5 months ago!) well not a great deal has happened since then!
I had an operation on the 25th July to remove my Gallbladder as it was giving me a lot of grief! Since then things have been great!
Our summer was quite quiet and peaceful really.
Then Kayleigh started school in September – she looked so adorable but it was really a bittersweet moment for me!
Then in October we threw a Halloween party for Kayleigh and her friends (their mums are friends of mine)- it was fun but a bit hectic and stressful!
In November it was time to go and watch the fireworks at our local Racecourse and we got to meet Peppa Pig too which my girls loved!
Then December hit- the moment we unofficially started trying to conceive baby number 3! It was also Christmas and the first one Peyton was much more aware of!
Christmas Eve I went with my sister-in-law (husbands sister) and niece and my two girls to visit my mother-in-laws grave, before we returned to my house and spent the day together- we cooked a Christmas dinner for dinner time when her fiancé and my husband got home.
We got into our Christmas pjs ready for Father Christmas’ visit.
Then me and hubby played our role and got all the presents under the tree ready!
Christmas morning was spent at ours opening presents and relaxing
Then we got dressed up and went to my mums for Christmas Day, opened more presents and then had dinner!
We visited my great aunt and uncle in the bit between dinner and tea so that they could see the girls and watch them open their presents from them! We then went back to my parents for tea which was nice and we left theirs at about 8!
(above are pictures of the cake and biscuits my mum made us) .
So the time came and Kayleigh has now graduated from Playgroup. It had been a lovely year at St Barnabas Playgroup. I am so happy she got to go there and am very happy that Peyton gets to go in a couple of years.
The graduation was so beautiful, Kayleigh looked absolutely gorgeous in the graduation gown and cap. Them later on the children did a play of The Gruffalo and Kayleigh and Imogen got to be the mouse (the main part!), although Imogen refused to do it on the day so Kayleigh did it alone. I was so proud of her🙂 she did very well! Kayleigh then “graduated” with a degree in P.E. because she loves jumping, climbing and running around. My mum, brothers fiancée and Jai came (although didn’t stay too long after)- we had a bit to eat afterwards as the playgroup hosted a buffet. My mum and brothers fiancée were annoying today too and seemed to be funny that I was chatting to friends there.
Well my Godson, Leo, was christened on 22nd June 2014. We came straight from our holiday in Devon to Bristol for the christening. Jai had to get dressed there as he’d forgotten his suit and my brother brought it around for him. I got some lovely cuddles with Leo before the christening, although when Jai held him our girls got very jealous haha! It was a nice basic christening but was annoying that everyone dressed up except Louis, Leo’s dad, who came in shorts and a t-shirt and looked a state. The little “party” after was held at their flat which was a bit cramped. Annoyingly during this time I tried to mingle a bit but no one else actually spoke to Jai. It’s awful the way my family treat him for no reason what so ever. So he didn’t enjoy the time at all.
I cannot believe I’m writing this and that my little girl is now 4 years old! She got very spoilt on her birthday. We’d got her a trampoline as her main present and then the Frozen dolls (elsa from Peyton and Anna from her uncle Peter). She got lots of other bits and pieces as well.
We then spent the day out at Cotswold Wildlife Park, which has become a tradition for us. I had to travel up there with my brother and his fiancée as Jai was taking our girls and also his sister and niece (my mum and dad also met us there). We had a nice time at the park (despite the initial downpour of rain as we arrived) and watched the penguin feeds, wondered around the park viewing animals and we also saw baby meerkats and baby lemurs, which were so cute. I think my girls had a good day but for me it was ruined by my family who were moody as hell all day. They didn’t seem to want to do anything, and they seemed to get a bit moody when we decided to go for food at around 12pm due to the children being hungry as they all usually eat around 1pm! After their behaviour I doubt I’ll invite them again!
Then we had her birthday party the next day, held at one of the local churches. We made the decorations and food, and my mum made the cakes for us. So say my family were going to come early and help us get set up, but they mostly just watched us get ready! It was a nice party, hard work trying to keep the kids happy and the party going smoothly and hard to mingle amongst the parents who stayed too. We had the bouncy castle from the church and also played pass the parcel and pin the nose of Olaf, as it was a Disney Frozen themed party. It was a fun party and everyone seemed to have fun. My friend Sophia was very helpful during the party – giving out name stickers and helping us cut the cake (although my mum and brother complain as she cut into wedges not squares to make it go further!)- so we all never really got any cake. Then after the party was over my family just stood there and watched me, Jai and Sophia clean the place. My brother actually said “you need a broom”, I got one and handed it to him and he said “I’m not doing it!”. It was very annoying. But Kayleigh had a fun time and had a load of presents from the party so she wasn’t complaining.
We had a brilliant holiday back in June 2014.. We went to Cofton Country Holiday Park in South Devon and had a brilliant time. We spent most of the time around the camp site as there is so much to do that there isn’t much reason to leave. We enjoyed playing in both the indoor and outdoor pools.
We also took some days off the site, we went to Dawlish Warren to play in the bigger arcade out there. They have a selection of games for children and for adults. There are games where you can win tokens to put towards prizes at the end. The girls loved it there, although for Peyton it was more of the pretty lights than the games themselves. Also over the weekend they have free face painting so Kayleigh got hers done (granted it only stayed about 30mins before she started rubbing at it and we took it off!).
We did also take a day trip over to Exmouth. We drove to Starcross and took the ferry from Starcross over to Exmouth. The girls loved going across on the ferry and the beach over there is a little bit nicer than Dawlish beaches. We went into the town to have some food first and then over to the beach.
The rest of the time was spending lounging around the caravan or around on the sun deck off of the new complex on site.
The only negative part of the week was that my parents (we’d borrowed their seasonal caravan) forgot to let us borrow their loyalty card so we had to pay full price on all the food and drink on site. Which was a shame as we’d planned to not cook at all throughout the holiday.
So its been a little while since I posted so will try to keep it short and sweet but a lots happened.
Kayleigh came back from holiday with a gross infected finger, which we had to pop, drain and then went to buy her Peppa Pig plasters as she was brave.
Then hubby went out for his best mates birthday night out and his mate knocked hubbys phone out of hos hands and it smashed! So we had to spend £90 to fix it again!
Peyton has also cut 4 teeth over the past couple of weeks and them coming through are hurting her a little bit.
Then we tried to get her walking shoes as shes now walking but in Clarks she’s not even a 2 yet (and Clarks walkers start at a 3) so had to go to Mothercare to get her some, they start at a 2 there and fit well.
We then had some beautiful weather so I had to go and buy the girls sun hats and glasses, although Peytons glasses didn’t last long.
We also bought a big family sized paddling pool for us during the summer! At first Peyton wasn’t the biggest fan but soon warmed up to it.
We also indulged in some ice-cream fun during the nicer weather.
Then this tuesday just gone I had to have an endoscopy and because I was being sedated my Nan and Grandad had the girls overnight for me (& then took them to the farm park the next day). The endoscopy itself was fine, I think I “slept” through it lol, but a bit of a sore throat after. They also found that I have a Hiatus Hernia which may need to be looked at as well as my gallstones. I’m being referred to a surgeon.
Then on the Wednesday I enjoyed a relaxing day to myself, I picked up the girls at about 3:30pm and went round my mums at about 4pm… She instantly whinged that we were “late” round. She then didn’t talk to me for about 45minutes and I just played with the girls. Then she came in ranting and raving about me being distant or something and I walked out, giving her the key on my way out… I just cant be bothered with the stress anymore! On a positive note though I lost 2.5lbs on my first week at weightwatchers.
So this week has been very busy. Monday i spent the day with my Grandparents, and they babysat overnight as I was supposed to have an endoscopy that next morning. I left the girls there that night and met Jai from work. When I got there their alarm was going off, they couldn’t get hold of the local police to say it wasn’t a break in and not to come out so they had armed Police arrive to check on them.
The next morning we went to what we thought was my endoscopy appointment but it appeared it was a misunderstanding and that he thought it was a second opinion. He agreed and said we’d do the endoscopy and an ultrasound to check for Gallstones etc. I managed to get an appointment for the ultrasound tomorrow morning and had to wait for a date for the endoscopy.
Then the ultrasound the next day showed that I have lots of very big Gallstones in my Gallbladder which is most likely causing my pains. It appears I’d most likely need surgery to remove my gallbladder to get rid of the pain. Later than evening my dad got upset with me, although I had to hear it from my mum. The girls had used my phone to call him by accident and when he called back I explained this. He was funny because I never mentioned my upcoming surgery. It was nothing personal but he didn’t call me back when i explained this.
My mum was also super selfish this week and stayed down the caravan when she knew that Kayleigh was going down with my Grandparents over the weekend. Kayleigh was sick at school just before she went away too, but seems it was just the excitement.
On friday my mum text me to have a go at me for telling my Grandparents she was down there.. I never said anything and am fed up of being accused and constantly stuck in the middle😦
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Taps: 23 / Bottles: 25
Cask: Y / Beer-to-Go: N
Ratings: 89 | Reviews: 82 | Show All Ratings:
4.05/5 rDev -2.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$
a great little place in nolibs. The ambiance is great, no tvs. This works for me tho, they always have good music playing. They have no hard menu's , just chalkboards.. I love this
im pretty sure its all draft and no bottles, the hippy in me loves this. They serve food till 1 am every day, all of their beer is local to sepa, although they usually have woodchuck (the amber, altough most people seem to agree that they should have the dark and dry) They have 2 handpumps, and always have something good on there
beers are fairly priced, I think kenzinger's are always $3
they have a really cool upstairs too, when its warm you can eat outside and its really nice up there.
The food is very reasonably priced and is some of the best for the money I have ever had. They change the menu alot , but they always have burgers which are amazing
I love northern liberties, parking is so much easier here than other parts of the city, alot of hipsters but a friendlier vibe then olde city.. and no parking meters
12-05-2008 02:20:27 | More by gdfan47
3.75/5 rDev -9.6%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4.5 | $$
A nice neighbourhood bar in the Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia that focuses on local beers. They always have a good selection of beers from the Philadelphia area and surrounding counties. The biggest problem is that if you aren't sitting at one of the bars you have to troll around the place waiting for someone to get up to get a table. Once seated however, the service is very good and the food is excellent focusing on locally grown produce. The price is very reasonable, and although there a lot of pretentious hipsters that hang out here, the music is always awesome. Also, the Foodery II is across the street!
11-26-2008 08:25:22 | More by corby112
4.13/5 rDev -0.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4.5 | $$
This pub was actually not that far from my hotel. I have not been here before so my first impression was a very comfortable UK pub atmosphere.
They do not have a large tap selection but they do feature and support local micros, so for a west coast guy this is cool.
The food is mostly seafood and burgers and salads. I had two seafood selections, the fried oysters and the mussels and sausage. Both were very tasty and high quality. The bartender told me that they brag that their burger is one of the best in Philly.
So a really cool place with a good local micro selection and great food.
09-01-2008 15:47:16 | More by VegasBill
4.43/5 rDev +6.7%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 5 | $$
The atmosphere is great with both a cozy dark wood bar area and a very nice rooftop outdoor eating area.
The food and fantastic and a good deal. The grilled octopus app. is the best version of octopus I've ever had. We also have tried the scallops, the fried oysters, and soft-shell crabs and all were first rate. They had other tasty sounding dishes like lamb sandwich. I think they are in the same league as Monks when it comes to quality, off-the severly beaten path food among the better beer bars in Philly or elsewhere.
The beer selection is American-craft focussed and mostly local, which I think is great given all the more hip and trendy Belgian bistroish places cropping up with largely redundant beer lists.
06-16-2008 19:59:01 | More by Tbone
3.86/5 rDev -7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | $$
A friend living in Philly suggested we check this place out while I was in town on a business trip. I'd seen the good reports on BA so I was sold.
They have a nice corner location with an inviting exterior. I found the atmosphere very relaxing and comfortable. It's well worn, simple and all about the beer.
The beer selection is very local. It all comes from PA & NJ in an 80 mile radius. That sounds a bit limiting but they do a good job with it by including a wide variety of styles. They even have two on cask. I had the cask Victory Hop Devil.
We didn't eat but the food menu was very interesting. It included basics like rib eye and burgers and some more unusual dishes as well.
I enjoyed the visit and would definitely recommend this place.
05-28-2008 11:24:41 | More by GJ40
4.38/5 rDev +5.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 5 | $$
best pub in town. the food is great, with a healthy selection of seasonal dishes as well. i love getting the venison steak in the fall with sweet mashed potatoes. they also had antelope steak this past january when i stopped in with a friend for dinner and some drinks. the beer is always local or regional (minus the random bottle of pbr and bud), and you can usually find an open table upstairs on a weekend night. always packed thursday through sunday, so expect to wait if you go for dinner on the weekends.
05-28-2008 00:48:15 | More by fishtownhxc
4.2/5 rDev +1.2%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$
There's a tap sticking out of the antique refrigerator. Did you read that? A tap in the antique fridge!! I mean come on. If that doesn't define a bar right there, what the hell else would? Okay. Beyond that the place is nice and almost old world, but with a feeling like it is still living in the present. Quality of brews seems on the level. Service is good. All the people seem to be just right for the spot. Selection is good. Seems to focus a lot on regional and local brews, so that's a plus. It is their thing. They don't really want to worry about much else besides that and I respect it and dig it. I didn't try the food, but I would at future visits for sure. And seeing how I always hit up The Foodery for beer runs and this place is next door, it makes it easy.
05-26-2008 17:00:06 | More by RblWthACoz
4.38/5 rDev +5.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$
This is one of my favorite spots to come to in philly, and it doesn't hurt that i live 10 minutes away. I'd say it has one of the best atmospheres in philly. it isn't cramped and the lighting is dim. Upstairs there are a few more rooms and also an outside deck. The downstairs bar is small but if you can get a seat there its really nice. Parking in Northern Liberties can be a bit of a pain but you'll eventually find a spot.
The thing about this place is they are becoming known more as a "gastropub", a term that just doesn't do it for me. They really deliver on the quality of their food though and their beer selection is always great. Last night I had a few Sunshine Pils along with the Mako Shark Skewers, which were fantastic. Then I finished up with 2 pints of Sly Fox ESB from the firkin and a Hangar Steak. My fiance went with the Lamb Shank and cask hop wallop. They always feature a nice
local tap selection too..last night they also had hopdevil on cask, pbc walt wit, riverhorse hop hazard, reading lager, sly fox dry stout, sly fox phoenix pale ale and more.
Standard Tap is really a must visit not only for the taps but the delicious food. You will get hooked on this place fast.
04-27-2008 15:04:25 | More by countmeoutt
4.35/5 rDev +4.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$
I really love this place, probably my favorite spot in Philly. The selection is pretty solid, two cask selections usually and in my opinion the best burger in Philadelphia. The people are chill and into beer. The jukebox is good too.
I love the layout. It's quite spacious, not cramped at all like an NYC type bar. You really can move around. The atmosphere is very classic, lots of dark wood. When I'm drinking good beer, I love a classic atmosphere.
There is a dart board, though it'd be pretty awesome if they had a pool table. Overall, not necessary though. The food is definitely reason for coming, it's excellent, the Beer is worth staying for.
The Northern Liberties area is pretty chilled out, and there are some other good spots in the area as well.
03-30-2008 00:42:17 | More by rgb2807
4.25/5 rDev +2.4%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$
Ahhh! The Tap. I should have reviewed this place long ago. I used to spend many Sunday afternoons enjoying cold beer and great fare there. But in all fairness I hadn't been there in almost a year so it wouldn't have been a real review, just fond memories. That being said, I finished out Philly Beer Week by visiting an old haunt. I started out with a Stoudt's Smooth Hoperator with an order of squid. The best squid in Philly in my opinion. After another Stoudt's I enjoyed a Standard Burger. The burgers are always a good choice, but they have some real standouts on their menu. The Mussels and Sausage is awesome as well as the Hanger Steak & Fries. Check out the Tap, you won't be disappointed.
03-19-2008 20:04:19 | More by mfhlucky13
Standard Tap in Philadelphia, PA
92 out of 100 based on 89 ratings.
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Every House has a story and if their walls could talk I suspect the memories would mirror the journey of generations of families as they lived the American Dream.
Passing that dream from one generation to the next requires a purchase and sale and while many decisions to sell are complicated by sentimental family holidays or gatherings as portrayed by a Norman Rockwell painting and a lifetime of memories, others are a mere progression of life moving forward leaving one chapter and opening another .
Once the decision is made to sell a house both time and money become paramount to the seller. If you need to sell your Sacramento house fast… there are local professional home buying companies who pay cash for homes in Sacramento, CA.
The world has changed, and in today’s real estate market there is literally a buyer for every sacramento house regardless of its, age, location, condition, and even price. There isn’t much mystery to it today as technology has brought the world a little closer and from any smartphone, you can begin to sell your Sacramento house fast and get cash for your house in the process without having to list your house with a real estate agent, or wait months for it to sell.
It’s true! And while they all might not line up to pay you exactly what you want, they are a lot easier to deal with than the same number of real estate agents that would line up to sell your house. Time an Money? How much of each do you have and how much of each do you want to spend because no matter what you do that is what will become the critical factor when selling a Sacramento house.
How Do Cash Buyers For Homes in Sacramento Work?
It is a pretty simple formula and if youre here you have already figured out that a quick search for “Cash for Homes in Sacramento” or “Cash Home Buyers Sacramento“. or Who Buys Houses Sacramento for Cash” is going to get you a number of results and options in google. The daunting part of the process is deciding which of the local Sacramento CA house buyers who pay cash for homes in Sacramento do you want to work with.
That is where the work comes in to play and with a little research, you can find that there are several local real estate investors out there looking to buy Sacramento Houses for cash that are reputable and will professionally handle their businesses. Here are some of the things you should look for when you’re searching for local cash home buyers (including our company, Westbrook REI, we buy Sacramento, CA houses fast).
First it’s always easier if you understand the process, so, if you’re not familiar with how we work or sure how the process of a cash buyer like Westbrook REI buying local Sacramento house works… click here on our “How it Works” page or you can read our Frequently Asked Questions.
Whatever you do, remember that this is a starting point and whomever you talk to needs to earn your business. We are not all the same. We all have different backgrounds and even different experiences purchasing houses. What you’ll find is that there are even those that have never purchased a personal home and have no way to relate to what you are trying to accomplish. I know that sounds silly, but It’s true. And just like houses, not all companies are the same. It usually takes just one conversation and you will be able to tell who’s for real.
What are the Trade-Offs? – It’s Always about the Time and Money
The market is shifting again and even though housing prices have steadily risen in 2018, we saw a flattening at the end of the year and an increase in days on the market from what used to be an average of 45 days to what appears to be between 60 and 90 days. That is substantial, especially if you factor in your real estate holding cost and the time it takes to sell.
Like I said it’s always about the tradeoffs. Even the best real estate agents will try to list your house at the best price acceptable to you to try and sell your Sacramento House fast, because they know that once they get the listing they are not personally going to be selling your house. To them it is a numbers game and they know that a listing is worth a commission when your house sells. The dirty little secret is that they dont even have to be around when it does sell because they are going to get their 3% to 6% commission no matter what. And the seller pays every bit of that commission for both sides of the transaction.
Time and Money. Both are not in endless supply, and yet with a real estate agent you are giving them a virtual blank check to tie up both your house and your equity and you are paying for that privilege.
So What is My House Worth?
The value of your house can be debated between real estate agents, appraisers, real estate investors, banks and mortgage companies, and of course you the homeowner. Regardless of the method used to determine its value, unless you are in agreement with the data and its application, your house isn’t going to be sold. Right?
Everything becomes a factor, starting with days on market, the competition (other houses on the market), etc. And no comparative market analysis of sales in your neighborhood is going to tell you what your house is worth even though that may be a good starting point. Let’s be realistic, it is not easy to get the full market value for your home no matter how you are selling it unless you are willing to put the most money into it with repairs and upgrades. It is pretty simple math.
So what does it take to get the full market value of your house?
You need a concentrated effort and you need the BEST product to get the full market value for your house. You need time and money for updates and repairs. You also need a lot of patience because you may have to wait 3-6+ months…
You will also need a real estate agent out there marketing your house to find you the right buyer. Remember that real estate agents charge a commission (usually between 3-6% of the sale price)… so if it takes you 6 months to sell and you have to pay a 5% commission… is that worth the wait? I guess that depends on the sales price minus the cost of repairs, concessions and commissions.
I won’t speak for all of the other Cash Home buyers in Sacramento, but at Westbrook REI, process and timeframe is very fast. We’ll evaluate your house… determine what it’s worth based on its current condition as compared if it were completely remodeled and updated… Then we’ll determine how much we’ll have to invest for those renovations. Well look at our holding cost… how long it will take us… and of course well factor in a profit for our risk in buying the house, renovating, and selling it… so we do tend to make offers that are market value minus repairs and renovations. Keep in mind we are a construction company as well and so our cost to renovate and rehab a house is substantially less than what you would pay a General Contractor. We’re the middle man removed.
So here is the real advantage, once we get a clear title from the Title Company we can close quickly (in as little as 5 days if you need us to)… so if selling your house as fast as possible with zero out of pocket expenses and NO hassle at all is more important than getting every penny out of your house, without the risk… submit your info on the form on this next page or give us a call at (209)481-7780.
We can make you a fast no-hassle offer in less than 48 hours.
Here is the truth and disclosure for my company. We won’t be offering the lowest price in town… and yet we may offer you the highest price… and you can be assured that when we make you an offer, we’ll follow through with what we say we’ll do. My name is Peter Westbrook and I am a Local Cash Home Buyer in Sacramento, CA. I have helped hundreds of families sell their houses and get on with their lives. The process is fast and every transaction is handled by the Title Company to make sure that everything is just right.
How Much Work Do You Want To Put Into Making Your Sacramento House Sell?
As I mentioned earlier, the other and largest contributing factor for selling any home is the finished product. No matter who represents you, if you want the top of market value for your Sacramento House you’re going to need to spend a lot of money and a lot of Time. It really is that simple.
As a someone who pays Cash for Homes in Sacramento, I can defer that cost and when we make an offer we take 100% of all of the work and hassle to sell your house off of your hands. There are no timeframes, budgets, and NO contractors and real estate agents to manage. We pick a date and close and you get your check.
We handle it all.
No, we’re not listing your house like an agent does. We are not going to ask you to clean up, declutter, stage or fix anything. Were not going to ask you to get the house ready at a moments notice to parade through all of the potential buyers that want to see it… We are not going to go back and forth through your agent with the buyers on price and terms, etc. Were NOT going to order inspections, appraisals and we are not going to ask a bank for a loan that may fall through.
Especially if your house in Sacramento needs some work.
What we are going to do is offer cash for your house. Because as professional home buyers in Sacramento we offer cash for houses in Sacramento CA. If your house needs work, we’ll buy it as-is and we’ll pay for the repairs it needs out of our pocket after we buy it from you. You won’t have to worry about the paperwork either… we’ll get it all created at a reputable neutral party closing agent in town of your choosing… or we can recommend the ones we’ve used for years.
Basically, we can make you a fair all cash offer on your Sacramento house (or Call Us Today at (209) 481-7780!)… and if it’s a fit, great! We’ll handle everything.
Do Your Research and Dont Assume that All Companies are Created Equal
When you’re ready to start the process of selling your Sacramento CA home for cash, fill out our form and we’ll help you get started.
Call Westbrook REI today at (209) 481-7780 for an immediate cash offer on your Sacramento, CA house… or Submit The Fast Offer Form Here >>
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Accelerated Proficiency for Accelerated Times
Concepts and Methods to Speed Up Performance
‘When you shorten the time it takes for workers to become proficient, the capital and resources required to introduce a new product, maintain operations and infrastructure, and perform a service are also proportionally reduced. I call this speed to proficiency.’ Charles Fred (2002, p. 16) Breakaway
ACCELERATED PROFICIENCY FOR ACCELERATED TIMES: A Review of Key Concepts and Methods to Speed Up Performance
by Dr. Raman K. Attri
Published by Speed To Proficiency Research: S2Pro©
Published: May 2020
ISBN: 978-981-14-6276-4 (e-book) $19.99
ISBN: 978-981-14-6275-7 (paperback) $39.99
ISBN: 978-981-14-6274-0 (hardcover) $59.99
Explores the literature review of key concepts and a range of methods from several classic and new research studies on building and accelerating proficiency in skills
Time is money and a reduction in time should be the first goal of any training program or any employee development initiative. The skills and knowledge acquired today become irrelevant or obsolete quickly. In that kind of dynamics, the organizations have shifted focus on how to shorten time to proficiency of employees and bring them up to speed to the required performance in a shorter time. This book intends to establish scholarly know-how on this construct of Accelerated Proficiency and provide practitioners and researchers with a condensed and coherent knowledge-base on this burning business concept.
To develop a condensed and coherent knowledge-base on Accelerated Proficiency, this book is organized around reviews of studies on performance and proficiency from several different disciplines spanning over five decades. The book explores concepts, themes, nature, and challenges associated with the process of accelerating proficiency.
This book discusses the business metrics of time to proficiency and speed to proficiency. In particular, this book will enable you with the answers to some crucial questions – What is the nature of the proficiency in the organization? What is the meaning and goal of accelerating proficiency? Whether or not proficiency and performance of employees can be accelerated? What kind of methods has been researched and proven to accelerate proficiency?
The book offers condensed review a range of classic and new studies on performance, human resource development, skill acquisition and proficiency and explores the concepts that relate to speeding up performance and proficiency. This can get new researchers started with a good foundation to carry forward the research. The reviews in this book are complemented with over 500 authentic sources which a researcher read for detailed and deeper dive and set the direction for further exploration.
Broadly the book deals with discipline of “education” and it cross-cut in the disciplines of learning sciences, training, human resources, instructional design, cognitive sciences, cognitive psychology, expertise development, and performance improvement.
Research students and scholars: Ideally, this book is meant for research students, researchers and scholars (new and seasoned) who are researching the areas of human performance, education, expertise, skill development, instructional design, cognitive sciences, learning theory, training design, and similar disciplines. Ironically, most of the new researchers do not get a good handle on from where to start their literature review and which direction to go for more in-depth exploration. That is where this book may act as a time saver for those new scholars or research students in training, education and learning disciplines who are either new to these disciplines or who do not have any prior experience in conducting a literature review in these disciplines.
Academics and teaching staff: Additionally, academics or professors who are teaching courses or subjects in the above areas may find this book a useful enough to recommend this book to their students to plan for detailed literature review in such areas.
Instructional designers and HR practitioners: This book may also be helpful to professional instructional designers, learning specialists, trainers, and consultants who are interested in designing and delivering their programs or training sessions to speed up employee performance. HR specialists, learning designers, instructional designers, and performance consultants are trying to structure their training and learning programs for employee development around some established models or best practices with the goal to reduce time to proficiency or in general speed up workplace performance.
The chapters in this book dive into the literature review of various aspects and dimensions of the concept of accelerated proficiency and build a concise knowledge-base on the business challenge of shortening time to proficiency. This book is organized as follows:
Chapter 1 introduces the context and relevance of the book.
Chapter 2 introduces major themes on performance from historical and classical studies as it leads to the concept of proficiency. The broader perspectives from studies and advances in human resource development (HRD) and performance improvement are reviewed. The chapter discusses the studies that characterized dimensions of job performance. The classic, seminal, and historical work of significance, such as theories of stages of skill acquisition are reviewed in this chapter.
Chapter 3 presents the definition and nature of proficiency. The literature on proficiency is reviewed as it relates to the topics of performance, knowledge/skill acquisition, and expertise acquisition. Key studies on novice-to-expert transition and the concept of proficiency are reviewed.
Chapter 4 presents the imperatives in the literature that assert the need for accelerating proficiency. The historical and current work on accelerated proficiency is reviewed. Then the theoretical aspects of accelerating proficiency are explored.
Chapter 5 explores studies on various methods proposed by researchers for accelerating proficiency of people or personnel in various settings. The methods are reviewed for their implications and evidence towards the acceleration of proficiency.
Chapter 6 enumerates the gaps highlighted in previous chapters in regards to the nature and attainment of accelerated proficiency. The role and challenges of using training interventions to accelerate proficiency in organizations are also discussed. The chapter concludes the book by appealing for further research in broader methods to accelerate proficiency.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 2: JOB PERFORMANCE: ASPECTS AND DIMENSIONS
2.1 Performance Improvement
2.1.1 Human resource development
2.1.2 Learning paradigm of HRD
2.1.3 Performance paradigm of HRD
2.2 Dimensions of Job Performance
2.2.1 Value of individual performance
2.2.2 Job performance
2.2.3 Dimensions of job performance
2.2.4 Complex nature of job performance
2.3 Perspectives on job performance
2.3.1 Behavioral vs outcome performance
2.3.2 Task vs contextual performance
2.3.3 Individual vs team performance
2.3.4 Multidimensionality of job performance
2.4 Learning and Performance
2.4.1 Abilities, knowledge and skills
2.4.2 Central role of learning
2.5 Acquiring Skilled Job Performance
2.5.1 Fitts and Posner’s three-stage skill acquisition
2.5.2 Anderson’s three-stage learning model
2.5.3 Ackerman’s three-stage model
2.5.4 Langan-Fox’s skill acquisition model
CHAPTER 3: PROFICIENT PERFORMANCE: JOURNEY AND TRANSITION
3.1 Novice-to-Expert Progression
3.1.1 Novice to expert progression as stages
3.1.2 Problem-solving approaches as an indicator of stages
3.1.3 Tasks performance as an indicator of stages
3.1.4 Measurable attributes as an indicator of stages
3.1.5 Novice to expert transition as a process
3.2 Stages of Proficiency Acquisition
3.3 Proficiency Scaling
3.3.1 Hoffman’s proficiency scaling
3.3.2 Jacobs’ taxonomy of human competence
3.3.3 Implications of proficiency scaling
3.4 Proficient Performance
3.4.1 Role of proficiency in performance
3.4.2 Development of proficient performers
3.4.3 Characteristics of proficient performers
3.4.4 Measuring proficient performance
3.4.5 Importance of proficient performance
3.5 Expert Performance
3.5.1 Attributes of expertise
3.5.2 A holistic view of expertise
3.5.3 Construct of expert performance
3.5.4 Deliberate practice mechanism
3.5.5 Time to expertise
3.5.6 Relevance of expert performance
3.6 Expert vs Proficient
CHAPTER 4: ACCELERATED PROFICIENCY: MEANING AND DRIVERS
4.1 Accelerating Proficiency
4.1.1 Time to Proficiency Metrics
4.1.2 Studies on time to proficiency
4.1.3 How long is time to proficiency
4.2 Accelerating Learning vs Proficiency
4.3 Business Drivers for Speed
4.4 Theory of Accelerated Proficiency
4.4.1 Theoretical aspects
4.4.2 CTT as Basis of Accelerated Proficiency
4.4.3 CFT as Basis of Accelerated Proficiency
4.4.4 Unified Theory to Explain Accelerated Proficiency
CHAPTER 5: METHODS TO ACCELERATE PROFICIENCY
5.1 Thematic Categories of Methods
5.2 Cognitive task analysis (CTA) methods
5.2.1 Using CTA to design training
5.2.2 Complimenting CTA with other methods
5.2.3 Challenges and benefits
5.2.4 Cogntive work analysis
5.3 Simulations-based Training methods
5.3.1 Time compression
5.3.2 Expert-based simulation
5.3.3 Above Real-time Training
5.3.5 Virtual or synthetic environments
5.3.6 Immersive strategies
5.3.7 Operational simulation
5.4 Scenario-based Training methods
5.4.1 Scenario-based training
5.4.2 Desirable difficulties
5.4.3 Tough case time compression
5.4.4 Conceptual skills
5.5 Part-task Based Methods
5.6 Workplace Activities-based Methods
5.6.1 Informal and social learning
5.6.2 Experiential and action learning
5.6.3 Structured workplace activities
5.6.4 Cognitive apprenticeship
5.6.5 Structured on-the-job training
5.6.6 Deliberate practice at work
5.6.7 Deliberate performance through action learning
5.6.8 Learning organizations
5.7 Technology-based methods
5.7.1 Expert-based systems
5.7.2 Tutoring systems
5.7.3 Performance support systems
5.7.4 Knowledge capture systems
5.7.5 Personalised learning systems
CHAPTER 6: CHALLENGE TO ACCELERATE PROFICIENCY
6.1 Challenges to Accelerate Proficiency
6.2 Issues with Training Methods
6.3 Issues with Workplace Methods
6.4 Applying Lessons from this book
6.5 Final Words
Dr Raman K Attri is a global authority on speed in personal and professional space. He is a performance and learning leader with over 25 years of international experience. His specializes in equipping professional and organizations with proven competitive strategies to speed up human learning, expertise, and performance by 2X. An accomplished business researcher, he is one among few experts in the world who have cracked the code to reduce time to proficiency of employees by 50%. An organizational learning leader, he manages a Hall of the Fame training organization, named one among the top 5 in the world, at a $40bn technology corporation. Passionate about learning, he holds two doctorates in human performance apart from earning over 100 international educational credentials and being nominated for some of the world’s highest certifications. An inspiring personality, he speaks internationally to guide leaders and professionals on research-based best practices, models, and frameworks to solve tough workplace performance problems. A prolific author of 20 multi-genre books, he writes about the deeper aspects of human excellence and capabilities. A powerhouse of positivity, despite his disability since childhood, he made his mission to teach others on how to accelerate the path to excellence and walk faster in all walks of life.
Browse through and purchase our other published books on accelerated performance, accelerating time to proficiency and complex training design.
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Tiger Tales Parent News Sept. 2015
News For & About Raymore Elementary & Early Childhood -
Mrs. Trutzel's class works together in the hallway to help solve a measurement problem.
Fourth graders participated in a presentation about the Constitution and Revolutionary War. Thank you Ms. Clark for planning a great learning experience to celebrate Constitution Day!
Wayside Waifs Visit 3rd Grade
This past week our third graders have enjoyed Wayside Waifs "No bullying" lessons. Students have also liked getting to know Paxtynne the dog.
It's hard to believe we have completed our first month of school together! There have been many exciting events recently! Our WatchDOGS volunteer program is up and running, Wayside Waifs visited third grade for "No Bullying" lessons, our fourth grade leadership students have started their leadership roles in our school, and students grades 2-4 are actively engaged with 1:1 Chromebooks . Attendance has been tremendous at several recent events too: Curriculum Night, Wild Animal Family Adventure, WatchDOGS Training, and Paradise Park Family Night.
A huge highlight is that our school has been recommended to DESE as an "Exemplary PLC (Professional Learning Community) school". This past week a team of MO PLC consultants visited our school to see how we work as a Professional Learning Community (PLC). The team interviewed teachers, administrators, and students. The team was very impressed with our instructional practices, school culture, and dedication and commitment to educating our students. Our school scored well in all areas and therefore will be recommended as an "Exemplary PLC school". We will officially find out in January if we are selected by DESE. This is testimony to the amazing teachers, parents, and kids we have here. Way to go!
Thank you for your continued partnership and support each and every day as together we help your child develop a love of learning. As always, please feel free to call us if you ever have a concern or question. We are happy to help.
Jennika Miller, Principal
Melissa Lucas, Assistant Principal
High School Student Leadership Assembly
Our Ray Pec High School Student Leaders did a great job at presenting an assembly focused on how to be effective leaders. Our students were very excited and connected with the message!
90+ Watch D.O.G.S. strong to kickoff the year!
Thank you to all the dads, uncles, grandfathers, etc. that participated in our Fall Watch DOG training. We are beyond excited that we have trained 90+ volunteers. We appreciate the support of our head Watch DOGS and our PTA. If you are interested in becoming a Watch DOG we would love to have you, please contact Jenni Beck at 892-1940.
Welcome Early Childhood Friends!
We were happy to welcome our Early Childhood friends to school this year! Welcome Class of 2029 & 2030!
High School Student Leadership Assembly
90+ Watch D.O.G.S. strong to kickoff the year!
Student Learning Targets Posted on District Website
Learning Targets and Power Standards are posted for parents on our district website: http://www.raypec.k12.mo.us/index.aspx?nid=1015 . From the district homepage, select “For parents” and then “Curriculum for Parents” from the drop down.
Board Unanimously Approves Long Range Facility Plan
The Board of Education on Sept. 24, 2015, unanimously approved a Long Range Facility Plan to address the majority of space needs anticipated by the District over the next eight to 10 years. The plan includes constructing an addition onto the south high school to accommodate all students in grades 9-12. Construction and reconfiguration will provide additional space for grades K-8 and the Early Childhood Program. Superintendent Dr. Kari Monsees explained that the improvements will require a $27 million general obligation bond issue in April 2016, but will not require an increase in the tax levy. Savings from the recent bond refinancing helped maximize the improvements identified with the plan. The plan was developed with the input of more than 470 patrons over the past year. The Board of Education and the Long Range Facility Planning Team have worked diligently to finalize the details in the plan.
Volunteering in Ray-Pec Schools District Outlines Volunteer Application Process
Volunteers are important to the success of many school district programs and activities. Many people volunteer to help with events and activities such as field days, class parties, book fairs, PTA events or dances, etc., under the supervision of District staff.
A second category of volunteers assist in ways in which they may be responsible for supervising students without the direct supervision of a District employee. Examples of this type of volunteer include the Watch D.O.G.S., field trip chaperones, or individuals providing academic tutoring. Currently, the District has more than 250 volunteers in this category!
For the safety of students, staff, and volunteers, individuals who wish to volunteer in the second category described above must complete a screening process:
- Complete an information form
- Undergo a background check (requires $12 fee paid by volunteer)
- Complete a form for the Child Abuse and Neglect Registry check
- Sign a confidentiality agreement
Read on if are interested in becoming a screened volunteer: http://www.raypec.k12.mo.us/index.aspx?NID=1021
C.A.N. needs our help each week!
Visit our weekly menu site and donate anything on it! http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090E48ABAC2FAA8-caring
Calling all other labels & Boxtops!
What began as a "Bring Your Own Device" (BYOD) Pilot Program in the Ray-Pec School District now includes components of both BYOD and one-to-one (1:1) computing. Under a 1:1 program, a school issues a device to each student to access the Internet, digital course materials, and digital textbooks.
This year, the District is providing Chromebooks for all 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students. BYOD is available in the 6th and 9th grades. The District's Technology and Academic Services departments are providing technology integration professional development sessions for the teachers in those grade levels, as well as other teachers who have implemented BYOD in their classrooms. In addition, the District opened its wireless network at Ray-Pec High School to improve access.
The expanded use of technology in Ray-Pec schools provides a number of benefits to students: Benefits to students: http://www.raypec.k12.mo.us/index.aspx?nid=933
See more information about future plans: http://www.raypec.k12.mo.us/DocumentCenter/View/8857
Friendly School Reminders & Opportunities
- For security of all kids and staff, please be prepared to present your State ID/Driver's License at the front desk. Office staff will sign in all visitors and provide a badge to be worn visibly at all times. Please be sure to check out at the office before leaving.
- I.D.: Please be prepared to show ID anytime you are visiting our school or picking up a child. If we do not recognize you (and we try hard!), this measure ensures your child's safety and that of our school. Thank you for your support.
- We will continue to practice regular drills/procedures through out the year in classrooms and as a school for a variety of emergencies including fire/evacuation, tornado/shelter, and more. This year our staff was more extensively trained by professionals in what to do in the case of a violent intruder. Thanks to our district's leadership, we are even better equipped with the most effective strategies to protect and prevent our children in the case of a variety of emergencies.
- All cars join our north car rider line. Please remain in vehicles and ensure your child enters on the curbside of the car.
- Early Childhood sessions M, T, W, and Th are 8-11 & 11:45-2:45. Students are not in session Friday.
- Elementary Student arrival & breakfast begins at 8:25 AM. The tardy bell is 8:45 AM. Dismissal begins at 3:45.
- All students who walk/bike to school on their own should wait for Mrs. Wratney our crossing guard for assistance to cross Madison or our parking lot.
- "Grab & Go" Breakfast is available for purchase by ALL kids & they enjoy in class as they begin their day. Hot breakfast can be chosen from 8:25-8:35 and then eaten in the cafe as well.
Oct. 6: PTA Trash bag sales extended until this date
Oct 9: Early Release @ 1:15pm [No Early Childhood Classes]; Staff Development
Oct 9: PreK/ECSE "Meet Me in the Park" @ Rec Park[11a-Noon]
Oct 15: Transportation Station Hosted by Parents as Teachers [5:00-6:00p Front & South Side Parking Lost of Re School]
Oct 16: EC Vision Screenings [Walk-In process @ Cottage 9a-1p]
Oct 19-Nov. 2: PTA Cookie Dough Fundraiser
Oct 23: Elementary [K-Gr4] Fall Parties @ 2:55p
Oct 26: PreK Fall Celebration Parties M/W Spencer Class[Two Sessions: 10a-11a and/or 1:45p-2:45p]
Oct 27: PreK Fall Celebration Parties T/Th Spencer Class/Blended [Two Sessions: 10a-11a and/or 1:45p-2:45p]
Oct 28: Early Release @ 1:15pm; Parent/Teacher Conferences [2p-8p]; "Be Proactive" 7 Habits Student Recognition Assembly 12:30 pm
Oct 29: No School; Parent/Teacher Conferences [Noon-8p]
Oct 30: No School
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Israel’s Challenges in 2011
Israel’s Challenges in 2011
by Sarah Ann Haves
Israel goes into the New Year facing a decrease in military
deterrence capability against its enemies; continued failures in reaching a
peace agreement with the Palestinians; and challenges to its legitimacy as a
nation state for the Jewish people.
Tourism is another sign that Israel is a favored nation despite the political, diplomatic, and military challenges it faces in the future.
Israel experienced the worst fire disaster in its modern
history in early December 2010, when 44 people lost their lives in the Mount
Carmel forest fire. About 1/3 of the forest burned, including four million trees
and 35,000 dunams of land. More than 75 homes were destroyed. The Israeli government
admitted to being under-staffed, under-financed, and ill-equipped to handle the
inferno that spread quickly over four days. Israel needed the help of foreign
fire and rescue teams and 18 countries played a major role in putting out the
fire. It gave hope to Israelis who were feeling increasingly isolated within
the global community.
A record number of tourists arrived in Israel in 2010, which
was a milestone year for the tourism industry. At least 4 million visitors are
expected in 2011. Tourism is
another sign that Israel is a favored nation despite the political, diplomatic,
and military challenges it faces in the future.
ISRAEL’S SOUTHERN EXPOSURE
Despite the fact that Israel now has the Iron Dome short-range
anti-missile defense system, which will soon be operational and deployable on its southern border,
Israel faces hostile terrorist armies resident in Gaza. The Hamas government is
capable of striking Israel with thousands of rockets, including the long-range
Iranian Fajr-5 which can reach Tel Aviv.
During the past two weeks, over 30 rockets and mortars have
hit Israeli southern border towns, launched by terrorists associated with the
military wing of Hamas. The
escalation has eroded Israel’s deterrence, and heightened tensions along the Gaza
periphery. Israeli military commanders have warned that the current tensions
could lead to war. Hamas continues
to reiterate its goal of destroying the Jewish State, claiming that it will
never agree to Israel’s legitimacy.
THE THREAT FROM THE NORTH
In the autumn of 2010, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
visited Lebanon looking to shore up Shiite control over the state through Iran’s
proxy, Hezbollah. Hezbollah’s military wing has been a force to contend with in
Beirut and in southern Lebanon where the Shiite terrorist group enjoys public
support. Hezbollah has been
trained by Iranian Revolutionary Guards both in Lebanon and in Iran, and
continues to receive funding from leaders in Tehran. Cooperation has,
reportedly, increased between the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and Hezbollah,
including intelligence gathering.
Syria has transferred caches of M600 long-range rockets to
Hezbollah, as well as surface-to-surface missiles. The M600’s have a range of
250 km., which can hit major population centers in Israel, and are capable of
carrying a half-ton warhead. Syria’s close military cooperation with Iran and
Hezbollah is of great concern to Israel in the event of a future war on its
northern border. Syria’s advanced
weapons systems threaten Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge (QME) in the
An international tribunal appointed to gather evidence in
the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri plans to hand
out indictments in 2011. These indictments are expected to implicate Hezbollah
operatives in Hariri’s murder. If Hezbollah is threatened with indictments, Arab
governments and Israel are concerned that the Shiite group will act to take
over the Lebanese government where they already have dominance. In addition,
they could stir up civil war in Lebanon, and/or attack Israel in an effort to
clearly demonstrate their power and influence in the Middle East.
OTHER HOT SPOTS
The greatest threat to Israel remains the development of Iran’s nuclear arsenal.
In the New Year, Israel will also be looking at signs of
instability in Egypt. With a decline in the health of Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak, there may be a transfer of political power to his son, Gamel, in 2011. This could result in a political
challenge by the Islamic extremist group, Moslem Brotherhood, which has strong
ties to Hamas in Gaza.
Egyptian Bedouin in the Sinai, working with terrorist
operatives in the south, will continue to attempt to smuggle weapons into Gaza through
tunnels under the Egyptian border. The Bedouins may aid terrorists in trying to
attack internationals vacationing in the Sinai and in Israel’s southern resort
town of Eilat.
Israeli government officials have expressed concern that, as
U.S. troops pull out of Iraq, the Shiites in Iran will take over the country,
thereby increasing their dominance in the region. This not only threatens
Jordan, but the eastern border between Jordan and Israel.
It’s also been reported that there are terrorist cells
beginning to operate on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea, causing Israel’s
police and army to concentrate efforts at guarding hotels on the Israeli side
of the border.
Jordan’s King Abdullah has been disappointed in the lack of
progress between Israel and the Palestinians in peace negotiations, as well as the
limited action of the United States against Iran. Abdullah is, therefore,
showing more of an interest in closer ties with Iran in order to maintain
stability in his country.
The greatest threat to Israel remains the development of
Iran’s nuclear arsenal. A recent statement by one of Israel’s reserve generals
indicates that the Jewish State is preparing to take action against Iran with
or without the help of the United States and its allies; 2011 could become a
pivotal year in Israel’s fight against Iran.
Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Forces (the IDF) have been
developing a strategy for a future war in the Middle East by coordinating
operations between infantry, air force, and naval units. The strategy is for inter-operability,
with additional integration of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s). Israel will have to move fast in any
future war with its enemies to suppress missile fire that can already reach
most of the Jewish State. Israel is particularly worried about enemy missiles targeting
Israeli Air Force bases throughout the country.
THE FUTURE OF THE PEACE PROCESS
Without direct or indirect talks between Israel and the
Palestinians, the current stalemate could lead to another Palestinian uprising
in 2011. The U.S. continues to try and mediate, with a new plan to gather
information over a period of time and then introduce bridging proposals to
Israel and the Palestinians. Meanwhile, Israel is concerned that U.S. President
Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are already developing a
new American peace initiative which they might introduce in 2011. This could be based on former President
Bill Clinton’s parameters outlined in 2000, when peace attempts failed between
former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and former PLO Chief Yasser Arafat.
Israel is expected to lose international diplomatic support in 2011, while Palestinians gain legitimacy in the global arena.
The Palestinians are continuing to rally the international
community into formally recognizing a Palestinian State, and it’s expected that
in 2011 most of Latin America will officially join the ranks of those countries
that have already declared such recognition. The Palestinians are pushing the
EU to also fall in line with more than 100 countries that have reportedly supported
their declaration of statehood.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas may attempt to seek
official recognition in the UN General Assembly meeting in September 2011,
ignoring Israel’s desire for direct final-status negotiations. This could
result in a future Palestinian conflict with the Jewish State, especially if
there is no agreement on borders, security, refugees, and Jerusalem.
Israeli diplomats are encouraging Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu to publicly outline Israel’s “red lines”, so that the Palestinians,
the Arab League, and the international community will clearly understand
Israel’s position in the peace process. But, Netanyahu’s government partners
are not in agreement on these issues, and therefore, he has not been able to
clearly define Israel’s parameters without threatening a coalition shake-up.
Meanwhile, a new poll indicates that only 8% of Israelis
believe that Israel will achieve peace with the Palestinians over the next five
years. A large majority of Israeli
Jews and Arabs believe that more time is needed to achieve peace; or, that it
will never be achieved.
Israel is expected to lose international diplomatic support
in 2011, while the Palestinians gain legitimacy in the global arena. This has caused an increasing number of pro-Israel groups to
coordinate their strategies in order to combat anti-Israel bias in the media
and within human rights organizations. If Israel is forced into a war by its
hostile neighbors, resulting in a great number of civilian casualties, an
increase in global anti-Semitism can be expected in 2011.
As the New Year approaches, Israel will do its best to fight
for its legitimacy on a diplomatic level while preparing for conflict on a
military level. What continues to keep the nation united is a desire to
survive, with hope towards the future for peace and tranquility in the region.
“You are my King, O God; Command victories
for Jacob. Through You we will push down our enemies; Through Your name we will
trample those who rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, nor shall
my sword save me. But, You have saved us from our enemies, and have put to
shame those who hated us. In God we boast all day long, and praise Your name
forever.” Psalm 44:4-8
Ms. Haves is a news analyst, reporting from Israel on political, diplomatic, military and spiritual issues affecting the nation.
(c) 2010 Messianic Vision all rights reserved. This article is not reproducible except with permisson from Messianic Vision.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright ©1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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March 21, 2000
Is Media a Danger to Democracy?
By Robert Parry
Shortly before New Year's 2000, writer Robert D. Kaplan penned a New York Times commentary about the world's future.
He blithely predicted that "political systems in 2100 will be elegantly varied, unconstrained by the sanctimony of the late 20th century, with its simple call for 'democracy.'" Kaplan added that his vision of this post-democratic world included a breakdown of national sovereignty and a resurrection of the ancient structure of autocratic city-states.
"The next century will be the age of high-tech feudalism," maintained Kaplan, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation which prides itself in "thinking outside the box." [NYT, Dec. 27, 1999]
While Kaplan certainly has the right to his opinion and there is some logic behind his prediction, what was striking was the casual way that The New York Times presented the argument, as if the end of "simple" democracy was a foregone conclusion, nothing much to worry about.
This cavalier attitude offered a rare glimpse at what is a growing -- though usually unstated -- notion along the Washington-New York power corridor: that free-market forces increasingly control everything and should control everything.
From this perspective, democracy -- the will of the people -- becomes more a "sanctimony" than a noble ideal, more an impediment to progress than the fairest way to bestow power on leaders.
This growing view -- what one might call a new-age capitalistic determinism -- has gained adherence among many influential journalists and thinkers. Yet, since democracy remains a popular notion with many Americans and since the media retains a self-image as the plucky defender of the U.S. Constitutional system, the term democracy has been less jettisoned than redefined. Within this new body of thought, "democracy" has come to mean the freedom of business to operate with minimal government constraints.
This evolving concept also helps explain, to some degree, the media’s decline in covering significant affairs of state. More and more, news is debased into “content,” as the out-dated need for a well-informed public fades away. Except for the stock prices and business news, information slides into entertainment.
But how did this happen? What transformed the Watergate press corps of the mid-1970s, which asked grand questions about serious government misconduct, into today's media which can be alternately frivolous, petulant and obsequious?
Three books offer an intriguing panorama of the crucial changes in the media over the past quarter century and the media’s growing threat to democracy.
The first, published in 1996, is Kathryn S. Olmsted's Challenging the Secret Government. It examines the awakening of skepticism within the U.S. news media and the Congress in the mid-1970s.
The second is Edward Herman's The Myth of the Liberal Media, which reviews the media's acquiescence to the Reagan administration's implausible propaganda during the 1980s. The third is Robert W. McChesney's Rich Media, Poor Democracy, a study of the rapid concentration of media power during the 1990s.
Olmsted starts her story by pointing to the secret compromises that the Cold War brought to the ethics of the U.S. government. She quotes World War II Gen. James Doolittle explaining in a secret 1954 report to President Eisenhower why CIA covert operations were needed and what they entailed.
"Hitherto acceptable norms of human conduct do not apply," Doolittle wrote. "If the United States is to survive, long-standing American concepts of 'fair play' must be reconsidered. We must develop effective espionage and counterespionage services and must learn to subvert, sabotage and destroy our enemies by more clever, more sophisticated, and more effective methods than those used against us. It may become necessary that the American people be made acquainted with, understand and support this fundamentally repugnant philosophy."
While Eisenhower and later presidents did implement the first part of Doolittle's recommendation -- ordering covert actions around the world -- they finessed the latter. Rather than explain the choices to the American people, U.S. leaders dropped a cloak of state secrecy around "this fundamentally repugnant philosophy."
That cloak was lifted slightly in the mid-1970s. The Vietnam War had cracked the Cold War consensus and Watergate had exposed a parallel challenge to the democratic process.
Into that breach stepped an energized press corps represented by investigative journalists, such as The New York Times' Seymour Hersh and CBS News' Daniel Schorr, and a more assertive Congress personified by Sen. Frank Church, D-Idaho, and Rep. Otis Pike, D-N.Y.
The press and Congress exposed some of the secret government's worst abuses -- from spying on U.S. citizens and disrupting their constitutionally protected rights to mounting assassination plots against foreign leaders and conducting drug tests on unsuspecting subjects.
Among the American people, there was shock. Olmsted quotes a letter that one woman wrote to Sen. Church. "Perhaps at 57 I should know better, but I really want our country to behave honorably. I never thought the ideals they taught us were just public relations."
But, as Olmsted describes, the counterattacks from allies of the secret government were fierce and effective. Its defenders questioned the patriotism of the critics. Key news executives, such as The Washington Post's publisher Katharine Graham and The New York Times editor Abe Rosenthal, proved particularly amenable to CIA overtures for restraint and self-censorship.
Even senior government officials didn't want to know too much. At one point, Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, who was heading up a White House-ordered investigation, told CIA director William Colby, "Bill, do you really have to present all this material to us?"
Though the congressional investigations managed to document an array of CIA and FBI abuses, Church and Pike faced unrelenting pressure. With the White House exploiting the murder of a CIA officer in Greece, the counterattack gained strength, eventually limiting what Church and Pike could accomplish. The House voted to suppress Pike's report and hauled Schorr before a hearing when he arranged for the publication of its leaked contents.
After Ronald Reagan's election in 1980, the national media and the Congress were brought to heel even more. Olmsted ends her book by quoting comments from senior editors about what one called the media’s “new age of deference.” In 1982, another declared that "we should make peace with the government. ... We should cure ourselves of the adversarial mindset."
In a sense, Herman's book picks up the story from there, though he also delves back into the modern media's evolution. But Herman's central point is the overriding fact of the media's self-censorship during the 1980s and early 1990s.
Herman details, for instance, the stunning contrast between the media's handling of a fugitive Cuban-American terrorist, Luis Posada, and the anti-Western terrorist, Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, known as Carlos the Jackal.
"For the Western media and Western experts, Carlos is the model terrorist and is portrayed without qualification as evil incarnate," Herman wrote. By contrast, the U.S. news media largely averted its eyes from Posada, a Cuban-American who worked for the CIA. Posada was implicated in the bombing of a civilian Cubana airliner in 1976, escaped from a Venezuelan jail and ended up handling logistics for Oliver North's Nicaraguan contra supply network in 1986.
"The mainstream media's treatment of this disclosure was extremely muted," Herman continued. "I believe that if Carlos had turned up as a literal employee of Bulgaria or the Soviet Union in some military-terrorist function, the media would have expressed outrage, and would have cited this as definitive evidence of a Soviet terror network. … But as [Posada] was our terrorist, the media were virtually silent."
McChesney's book, published in 1999, focuses on the economics of modern journalism and the concentration of both money and power in the hands of a few media conglomerates.
His argument is that the big media has, in many ways, become the power structure and is positioned to exploit its enormous influence to advance both its own agenda and those of its government-business allies.
"Media fare is ever more closely linked to the needs and concerns of a handful of enormous and powerful corporations, with annual revenues approaching the GDP of a small nation," McChesney argues. "These firms are run by wealthy managers and billionaires with clear stakes in the outcome of the most fundamental political issues, and their interests are often distinct from those of the vast majority of humanity.
“By any known theory of democracy, such a concentration of economic, cultural, and political power into so few hands -- and mostly unaccountable hands at that -- is absurd and unacceptable."
McChesney also found little to cheer about at the prospect of the Internet significantly broadening the parameters of political debate. "Despite its much-ballyhooed 'openness,' to the extent that it becomes a viable mass medium, it will likely be dominated by the usual corporate suspects," McChesney wrote.
"Certainly a few new commercial content players will emerge, but the evidence suggests that the content of the digital communication world will appear quite similar to the content of the pre-digital commercial media world."
The announcement of the AOL-Time Warner merger on Jan. 10 only underscored McChesney's observations.
On the broader issue of democracy, McChesney sees the news media dumbing down, rather than informing, the public debate.
"In many respects, we now live in a society that is only formally democratic, as the great mass of citizens have minimal say on the major public issues of the day, and such issues are scarcely debated at all in any meaningful sense in the electoral arena,” McChesney wrote.
“In our society, corporations and the wealthy enjoy a power every bit as immense as that assumed to have been enjoyed by the lords and royalty of feudal times."
So, McChesney, like Kaplan, sees the parallels between the feudalism of the old Middle Ages and this new age of "high-tech feudalism." If that analysis turns out to be correct, then tomorrow’s relationship between the rulers and the ruled will have been driven, in large part, by limitations that the modern media has placed on the knowledge of the common people.
In the old Middle Ages, the process was more straightforward. The serfs were kept illiterate and the secrets were kept by a small circle of courtiers.
Today, the methods must be more subtle. Real information must be degraded by mixing in propaganda and disinformation, so many people have no idea who to trust and what to believe.
More than two centuries ago, the Founding Fathers addressed the need for an informed electorate by enacting the First Amendment's guarantee of press freedom. Today, however, another debate is overdue: whether the public should -- and can -- demand a new commitment to openness not just by the government, but the corporate media as well.
Editor Robert Parry has written extensively about propaganda in the modern age. His last book is Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & ‘Project Truth.’
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Benedict Option: ‘Dark Mountain’ For Christians?
Via The Browser, Peter Ross of the Boston Review has an interview with Paul Kingsnorth, the co-ounder of a dystopian movement called the Dark Mountain Project. It’s not a political or religious thing; it’s a group of artists, writers, and thinkers who are focused on ecology, and who believe that civilization as we know it is unraveling, and can’t be stopped. From its website:
It might also be useful to explain what Dark Mountain is not. It is not a campaign. It is not an activist project. It does not seek to use writing or art to ‘save the planet’ or stop climate change. Rather, it is a creative space in which people can come to terms with the unravelling of much of the world we have all taken for granted, and engage in a conversation about what the future is likely to hold, without any need for pretence or denial.
Peter Ross describes the Dark Mountain vision as the belief “that it is too late to save the world, but you can care for one small part of it, enriching both the land and your own life in the process.” Here are excerpts from the interview:
PK: My writing is also increasingly religious, or spiritual, although “spiritual” is such a horrible New Age word. I am a Zen Buddhist, but that’s not exactly a religion, it’s more a practice. As I get older, the spiritual mystery of life seems to be coming to the fore. It’s right there in Beast, which is a religious book, a quest book. It’s all the way through The Wake as well. I have a strong sense that the earth is alive. I’ve always had this. I remember reading Wordsworth when I was fifteen or sixteen and being really struck by the fact that he was talking about experiences that I had had—when you are up on a mountain and the world opens itself up to you. All the time when I was young, I felt there were mysterious things going on in nature. I believed in fairies and magic and all that. Then you grow up and put all that to one side, but it feels like it’s coming back into my writing as I get older. One of the disastrous stories our culture tells itself is that the world is a machine, and that you can cut it into bits and look at how it works. But it’s not a machine, it’s a great web of life with a strange religious mystery bubbling underneath.
Yes, exactly. For traditional Christians, the world is charged with the presence of God, who, in the Orthodox prayer, “is everywhere present and filling all things.” This is what all Christians believed until the modern period, which disenchanted the world. If Christianity is going to survive this, it has to regain the older Christian vision.
This is not some woo-woo, superstitious New Age thing. This was Christianity before the modern era. Here is a link to Episode 1 of Tudor Monastery Farm, a British reality series (in six hourlong episode, as I recall) that explores various aspects of daily life for people who worked on a monastery farm in the year 1500. In this post, I talk in detail about how the series reveals the sacramental vision that held medieval society together, and what it has to do with the Benedict Option. (That post will explain why Kingsnorth’s words above resonate, or should resonate, with traditional Christians.) I strongly recommend watching the series — it’s great to watch with kids. Not boring at all — quite the opposite, actually. Great to watch with the kids.
OK, more Kingsnorth:
PK: … One of the problems with the green movement is that it is constantly issuing deadlines: “We’ve only got five years to save the world!” I read Naomi Klein’s book on climate change a while back, and I found it ludicrous and dishonest. There’s plenty of good research in there about how the corporations are refusing to act and are covering up what needs to be done, but then she says that we have to have radical change in ten years and provides an enormous list of impossible global tasks. She’s a smart woman and she knows damn well none of that is going to happen.
PR: How did it feel when you accepted the end of the world? Relief or despair?
PK: I’d make an important distinction between “the end of the world” and the end of the way we’re living now; it’s the latter that’s ending. What do I feel about that? Kind of both. More relief, actually. There’s a common notion among activists that “taking action” must be inherently hopeful. If you’re going on demonstrations or working to stop climate change then that’s a hopeful or optimistic thing. But after a while, when people realize they are banging their heads against a brick wall, this kind of campaigning leads to despair. What I found when I said, “You know what? This isn’t going to work,” was that a great weight lifted off my shoulders. I’ve stopped pretending that the impossible is possible.
People often call me dystopian. They think, “This guy says the apocalypse is coming and there’s nothing we can do, so we should all have a party.” I like a party as much as the next man, but that’s not the point I’m making. I’m saying we should be honest about what’s happening and not entertain fantasies about how we can turn it around with, for example, global governance. How does that focus your mind? Where does that leave you? What do you do? Dark Mountain starts with those questions.
Yes, this is very similar to the Benedict Option vision. As I write in the book:
We Christians in the West are facing our own thousand-year flood—or if you believe Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, a fifteen-hundred-year flood: in 2012, the then-pontiff said that the spiritual crisis overtaking the West is the most serious since the fall of the Roman Empire near the end of the fifth century. The light of Christianity is flickering out all over the West. There are people alive today who may live to see the effective death of Christianity within our civilization. By God’s mercy, the faith may continue to flourish in the Global South and China, but barring a dramatic reversal of current trends, it will all but disappear entirely from Europe and North America. This may not be the end of the world, but it is the end of a world, and only the willfully blind would deny it. For a long time we have downplayed or ignored the signs. Now the floodwaters are upon us—and we are not prepared.
So, to restate this in a Kingsnorthian way, I’m saying we should be honest about what’s happening and not entertain fantasies about how we can turn it around with, for example, winning political power or by repackaging our evangelical message. How does that focus your mind? Where does that leave you? What do you do? The Benedict Option starts with those questions.
To be clear, Kingsnorth is focused on environmentalism and global system collapse. I am focused on Christianity in the West. But there are parallels. More:
PR: Is there a survivalist aspect to the way you are trying to live? Are you trying to learn to survive the catastrophe you predict coming?
PK: I wouldn’t call it survivalism. That conjures up images of men with guns in shacks. I’m not expecting some nuclear war or apocalyptic zombie catastrophe, but there is certainly a slow grinding collapse going on. So I want my children to know what seeds are and how to plant them. I want them to know how to light fires and how to use knives and simple tools. I want them to know how to cook properly and how to ferment drinks. The more of those things you know, the more connected you are to life, the more control you have, and the more choice you have over how to live. I don’t want them growing up in a consumer economy that wants to teach them absolutely nothing about how living is done. Even if all that stuff doesn’t fall apart in their lifetime, which it might well, it’s a powerless way to live. You end up making yourself a slave. You are completely dependent on this destructive world-spanning machine, and you are not fully human. I want them to be fully human. So it’s an insurance policy but it’s also just a way of living. And it’s enjoyable. You can’t live this way from some puritanical notion. You actually have to enjoy it, which we do.
This is important. I want my children to know traditional Orthodox Christianity, to know what the prayers are, and what they mean. To know how to do things that our Christian ancestors knew how to do. To see the world with the same vision, and not the corrupted vision of desacralized modernity. It’s an insurance policy, but it’s also just a way of living. And yes, you actually have to enjoy it — which we do!
One more bit:
PR: In an essay published the day before the U.S. election, you likened Hillary Clinton to a corrupt late Roman emperor and Donald Trump to a barbarian hammering at the gates. If you had a vote, would you have cast it for the emperor or the barbarian?
PK: I don’t think I’d have voted for either of them. I would certainly not have voted for Clinton as she was just the continuation of a dead system. I kind of like the chaos energy that Trump is bringing, but I’m not sure I could have brought myself to vote for him. I’ve waited my whole life to see what is effectively an independent candidate in the White House, a guy who is going to take on the media establishment and global free trade and the authoritarian left and stand up for the working class, and it’s just a shame that it had to be Donald Trump. Those are the things he says he is going to do, but I’m not sure he is capable, and a lot of what he stands for I dislike intensely, especially his cowboy attitude to nature.
PR: On the day that you and I confirmed this interview, Trump signed executive orders to allow construction of the controversial Dakota Access and Keystone XL oil pipelines. Surely you can’t favor that?
PK: Of course not. But what you see with Trump is American capitalism with its mask off. Obama talked a great game about climate change, but he never did anything. He was so charming that he could drone-bomb people every day for eight years and the media who are now calling Trump a fascist wouldn’t say anything about it. Trump is a barbarian, but barbarians are what you get when empires collapse, and the United States is obviously a collapsing empire.
Read the whole thing. I think a lot of conservative Christians, like environmentalists re: Dark Mountain, believe that to accept the Benedict Option is an act of surrender and despair. I do not, not at all. It is hopeful because it is realistic, and bases its real hope in eternity. It accepts that for whatever reasons, it is highly unlikely that we are going to stop the collapse of Christian belief in the West — so we should do what is necessary to stay faithful and steady through it, and to ride it out so as to preserve the spiritual and cultural seeds for the rebirth. Again: it’s not the end of THE world, but it’s the end of A world, and those who want to survive it and to thrive in the midst of it had better wake up and change their lives. If you read the interview, you’ll learn about how Kingsnorth and his wife live on a patch of green ground in Ireland, and homeschool their kids. They don’t sound like unhappy preppers at all.
You may disagree with all of this, and if so, read The Benedict Option and let’s have that discussion in our churches and families and small groups.
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The first thing you should know about the Product Manager for MySpace Music is that he’s an independent musician. He’s in a band called Big Kid. That’s him playing the drums. He also writes most of the songs. I found that both encouraging and surprising.
Myspace Music Product Manager Steve Clark approached me through my blog to have a chat about what was going on at Myspace, the big changes that they were making, and what they were doing to belatedly address the fact that they have access to (as I put it) every frickin’ band on the planet.
Now, I’ve been critical of Myspace in the past (to say the least). My complaints have been many and varied, but my concerns have been especially with respect to the fact that all of their efforts in the music space have been directed exclusively at major labels – and the fact that as an interface, both for artists and for fans, it’s a pile of crap.
A friend of mine once joked that you can’t polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter. Basically, Myspace has been rolled in glitter.
It’s not about music online
Like this band? Buy that chocolate!
The reason I mention that Steve is in an independent band is to underline the point that, to a large extent, he gets it. He knows what it means to be in a band that is not signed to a record label, and to get together with a bunch of likeminded people to make music they like, and hope that other people might like too.
And like a lot of other people in bands, he has a day job. In this instance, he works at Myspace. So my problem here is not with Steve Clark. In fact, in a sense, I don’t even have a problem with his employer – because his employer is not relevant to my interests.
I am interested in independent music online. Steve Clark is interested in independent music online. Myspace is not.
Because essentially, what I want Steve to be able to do for independent artists is not something that could happen within that professional context.
Myspace does not want to be something that I want it to be. It seems likely it is not capable of being something that I want it to be. Because the fact is – Myspace is not an internet service for artists and fans despite what it may appear to do on the surface.
Despite having the second largest membership of any social network platform on the planet, it’s also not a social network – because by and large, that’s not what people use it for.
And Myspace is certainly not a free service that connects musicians with their audience in a meaningful or helpful way. That’s not what it’s for.
Myspace is purely and simply a broadcasting platform that makes money for Rupert Murdoch’s corporation by selling advertising. That’s it. That’s the whole story. In the picture above, Myspace’s customer is Nestlé, who make KitKat.
You’re not the customer. In fact, you’re not even the product. You’re the bait.
Like radio, without any of the benefits
Photo by screenpunk
Among other things, I teach about radio. And commercial radio is really simple. Like many other businesses, it has products and it has customers. The audiences are not the customers, they’re the product. The customers are the advertisers.
And the music (as well as all the tasteful billboard marketing) is used as the bait that draws in the audiences to sell to the advertisers. We all know that’s how it works.
But we also know that there are benefits to being played on the radio. There’s the exposure to a wider audience for a start, the potential for increased sales and the PR benefits of being able to say ‘as heard on…’ – not to mention the performance royalties.
But the reason those benefits exist on radio is because radio is programmed. If you’re listening to the radio, you will hear whatever’s next. The context brings the audience. On Myspace, you bring your own audience.
The benefits of Myspace
Here are the benefits of Myspace as told to me:
It has good SEO. If you’re searching for a band on Google, Myspace will likely appear in the top results.
Myspace has all of “the plumbing” in place. That is, it has deals with all of the big labels and the rights collection organisations worldwide.
They have good filters in place so that rights can be managed effectively, to honour those copyright arrangements, and quickly remove anything thought to infringe those rights.
You can now have a whole Myspace website – not just a profile page.
It now uses auto-syncing and feeds. That is, if your gigs are booked by Live Nation, they can automatically appear on your MySpace page. If you use The Orchard, CD Baby or even Tunecore, your music can be piped directly into your profile. It wasn’t actually clear how that bit works; my suspicion is the more famous and signed you are, the more likely it is to work smoothly. Beyoncé and Linkin Park were cited as examples.
You can have Amazon and iTunes “buy” links.
And finally (this is my favourite one – and it’s a direct quote): “It’s the only service other than Youtube that has married User-Generated Content with Premium and is making the business work.”
There’s an essay to be written unpicking that one sentence.
You don’t have to be signed to make money for the majors
Steve also talked a good deal about JV partners. For a moment, I couldn’t place the acronym, and had to ask what JV was. It’s shorthand for Joint Venture.
In other words, Myspace is part-owned by major record labels and possibly also by rights organisations like ASCAP or BMI.
He wouldn’t be pressed on what the deals were or just how much they own (“it’s not something I feel comfortable discussing”), but it’s fair to say that sharing your music with your audience on Myspace not only generates revenue through the placement of advertising on your own page, but is potentially a better business opportunity for, say… Universal Music, than actually signing your band would be.
That message again, just so we’re clear – now every frickin’ band on the planet is making money for the major record labels.
There’s not very much glitter
The thing that I was most interested in was the user interface, which has changed, but seemingly not very much.
I’d seen the Grinderman page recently (great band – great album – amazing video) and was impressed by the extent to which it didn’t look dreadful – which is not high praise from a web design perspective, but it’s still a radical improvement on what there was before.
But as a fan, the button I was most interested in was the ‘Share’ button. And there is one. It allows me to link to that page. I’m unable to embed any of the content on this page (a hosted WordPress site) or my Posterous blog. Or, I can, but it involves a hack rather than a code provided by Myspace themselves.
So – yes, it has been rolled in glitter – but not very much. The fact remains that in order to be fixed, the whole Myspace architecture has to be rebuilt from scratch, and they’re not going to do that.
Call me a socialist…
U2 – brought to you by suspiciously affordable clothing
My one sticking point kept coming back to the advertising. I know there are artists out there who aren’t comfortable with the fact that they have no say about what gets advertised on their page.
It might be McDonalds or Coke, cosmetic surgery or Windows 7. You may have a problem with some of those or you may not. The point is, you have no choice in the matter.
I suggested to Steve that artists be offered the opportunity to pay a small amount (but more than the advertising revenue from their page) to have an ad-free service. Let’s say – $1 a month per 5000 friends your band has, for instance.
It’s something they’ve considered – and may return to one day – but it’s not something they’re offering.
Meanwhile you’ll continue to offer your fans the corn syrup-filled goods and debt-creating services of planet-raping, child-enslaving corporate psychopaths. Or maybe Oxfam. Who knows?
Soon it will be October 24th
When I did my rant about Myspace nearly a year ago (which Steve tells me he’s quoted extensively in internal Powerpoint presentations), I suggested we give them until October 24th this year to sort everything out and properly respect the fact that they have every frickin’ band on the planet – and not only make the most of that opportunity, but actually provide a service to them that is helpful rather than contemptuous and outright exploitative.
My suggestion was that if they haven’t sorted things out by then, we stage a mass exodus. Everyone leave simultaneously.
You want a platform for your music? There are other choices. I will, of course suggest Bandcamp partly because (full disclosure here) I’m on their board of advisors, but mostly because I think it’s brilliant both for artists and for fans (which is why I’m on their board of advisors). There are other choices. The important point is would be that they’re not Myspace.
Steve assured me that the changes that have been made already are only the tip of the iceberg – and that there are more and exciting changes yet to come. I hope to be pleasantly surprised by them… but it would certainly be a surprise.
My expectations were very low, and they have not been raised but confirmed.
After my interesting, thoroughly pleasant, intelligent and amiable one-hour chat with the very nice man from Myspace Music, it is my considered opinion that they are not capable of making those changes.
My account is closed. Tom is not my friend.
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Important ingredients in the procedure of bream burning are premium bait. Residence cooking options and ready-made from the shop are utilized.
In the exact same pond with a difference of a number of days, lures with completely different tastes and smells can work. In this situation, it is not worthwhile to give choice only to bought versions or home-made ones.
What is the best lure for bream is tough to say, the choices of fish depend upon numerous variables:
- Choosing complementary foods ought to take into account weather, the same option can operate at various times of the year absolutely the opposite.
- A vital indicator will be the food supply of the picked tank, with a lack of food, locals will certainly toss everything. A surplus will adversely influence the tempting of fish feed.
- The sight of the reservoir is also important, the compound for capturing bream on the stream in still water may not have any kind of effect in all.
The structure of prikormki on bream
Make a bait on bream in your home is not at all tough, it is enough to know just a few tricks. Experienced anglers recognize that the very best lure for bream is prepared quickly prior to leaving as well as directly.
There are numerous alternatives, they are joined by certain compositional requirements:
- A crucial element will be a sweet taste, due to the fact that it has been validated greater than once that bream is a sweet tooth. In the lure on bream have to exist honey or sugar.
- All active ingredients should be finely crushed and also well blended, uniformity is necessary in bait.
- The make-up for the feeder in the trough need to smell, while it is essential that the scent was strong, however not cloying.
- Viscosity is also vital, the bait ought to be progressively washed out of the feeder currently at the bottom, and not collapse when touching water.
- To capture a bream, dregs are required, it remains in such conditions that huge individuals can search for food for a very long time.
- Bait for bream with their very own hands or from the store ought to be similar in color down ground. From the solid distinction in color fish will only be afraid.
- Tandem bait and nozzles is the crucial to successful fishing. The bait has to consist of fragments of bait utilized, whether it is of animal or vegetable origin.
Summer season prikormka on bream in structure will differ really bit from spring or autumn, however initially points first.
The lure for bream and also roach has a number of vital elements, knowing that you can conveniently cook it on your own in your home.
Prep work of bait in the feeder for bream with his hands goes directly prior to leaving for the place of fishing. Whatever time of the year is not outside the home window, the basis is always the same.
To capture a big bream usage such products as a basis:
- sunflower cake;
- flaxseed meal;
- cake pumpkin seeds.
You can prepare lure as from each ingredient individually, and integrating them.
Spending plan lure for bream is obtained from the feed as well as bread crumbs. Frequently, this make-up is utilized to capture bream on the ring.
Any dish for cooking food includes flavor. Most often for this function use natural oils or seasonings, less usually resort to utilize man-made.
- The most reliable recognized: roasted flax seeds, which are ground in a coffee grinder;
- coriander, it is ground individually and also promptly prior to fishing it is included in feed;
- cumin seeds can additionally bring in the focus of huge individuals;
- Cinnamon, anise, caramel are commonly made use of in self-made lure, in addition to on a commercial degree;
- natural oils of sunflower, sea buckthorn, hemp;
- fennel and also garlic in the feed, as well, will certainly add him catchability.
The bait for the bream in the winter months must scent a little differently, in cold water the “animal” gives off the worm, bloodworm, as well as moldy worm job much better. A «« summer» » are sweet.
Homemade bait for bream ought to have such items 30% -40% of the total amount. They will aid keep the fish in the appropriate location without pereraziv it.
These components consist of:
- peeled off sunflower seeds;
They are made use of in fit to be tied or boiled form.
The lure for catching bream in the existing or in standing water will certainly be insufficient without a binding part.
These buildings have:
- sliced oatmeal;
- ground peas
From the above listing, usage just one choice, it will be fairly sufficient.
Lure on the bream with their own hands ought to always include breadcrumbs, making use of rye or wheat depends upon the topography of all-time low on the pond.
You can feed the bream with various compositions, each fisherman with experience has his own dish according to which one of the most appealing lure is prepared. Porridge for feeders can be prepared in different means, as long as it works.
Exactly how to cook the lure is not understood to everyone, the process is not made complex, as well as it can be understood by a newbie angler. The important things ahead of time is to stock up on the essential quantity of products and also properly determine the time.
Lure of peas
Many fishermen with experience are aware that the most effective lure for bream are made from peas. It is essential exactly how to steam the peas for bait, this is the primary trick.
Pea bait prepared as complies with:
- in a container in an adequate quantity of water soaked over night 3 tbsp. dry shelled peas;
- in the early morning the item is outraged reduced warm without a cover, continuously stirring the materials;
- Finely cut dill as well as garlic passed through a press are contributed to the ended up product.
Desire is determined to ensure that the capsule gotten of the water must be soft, however not steamed soft. To enhance the performance of the finished item, you can browse a meat mill, add a percentage of hemp or anise oil.
The binding component for this variation of the feed is clay from the coastal area of the reservoir, steamed porridge, cake.
It is feasible to make an universal base for capturing bream on a ring on a stream from a watercraft or on a feeder in a lake, as well as the name Salapinskaya gruel.
In your home it is prepared from the complying with parts:
- 2 tablespoon. barley;
- 1 tablespoon. millet;
- 2 tbsp. barley grits;
- 2 tbsp. corn grits;
- 1 tablespoon. semolina;
- 2 tablespoon. l raw grease
- bag of vanillin.
From barley as well as 3 glasses of water, boil gruel until the seeds swell, add millet, oil and vanilla. As soon as holes appear externally, in which it will be seen how boiling water boils, the fire is removed, as well as the container is covered with a cover as well as left for half an hour. After that include the remaining active ingredients as well as blend well.
Bait on bream in winter season
The recipe for wintertime angling will certainly be little bit different from the springtime or summer season. Based upon a particular amount of peas, corn, barley and millet. An unique active ingredient will certainly be flavor, for angling in cool water on the river as an additive using fabricated taste “bloodworm” or “worm”. You can get it at any kind of angling take on store.
The crucial factor is the correct preparation of each individual ingredient as well as strict adherence to all proportions.
Lure do-it-yourself for bream: the subtleties of food preparation
A straightforward lure for catching bream on a lake or river can include a set of components, the important point is to effectively cook the active ingredients and also mix in the appropriate proportion. It is very important to properly prepare the base, to ensure that it is crumbly, however at the very same time it is well shaped.
Exactly how to cook millet for zakorm
Homemade bait is usually prepared from all known ingredients, bream takes great summer millet. Not every person knows how to cook millet for lure, the typical proportions right here can play a cruel joke. It is best to steam the grits or cook in a big quantity of water, which, if essential, can after that be drained.
How to cook peas for bait
Before you cook the peas for bait, it is suggested to soak it for at the very least 3-4 hours, and ideally in the evening. Prepare in lots of water, occasionally inspecting preparedness, as described previously.
This is an efficient kind of lure on bream in July, from the watercraft and also in still water. Only the flavors utilized will vary.
Bait on the basis of barley for
Feeder bait differs from the feed in the feeder on the bream by the web content of a larger amount of coarse fraction. What prikormku likes bream already determined, the recipe for the feeder is identical. So that the driving did not swiftly end up being blurred, as well as in order to attract larger specimens, whole items of veggie or animal bait are included to the already ready mixture. Specifically efficient is the combination of barley with worms, maggots, bloodworms. As a binder, they utilize pea stick or really prepared pea flour.
Lure for angling on the ring on the watercraft
Food for bream feeder diy resembles a clod for buzzing. The material of big components in the base is additionally essential below. They invest the entire June, July and the initial fifty percent of August, after that the effectiveness of this kind of angling decreases. How to make a bait? Usually breadcrumbs are taken as a basis, it is possible to use barley and millet on bream in July.
Just how to prepare the lure on the bream properly and also what components are far better to make use of found out. The dish for the ring and the feeder is extremely comparable, as well as various other methods of fishing will call for slightly various feed attributes.
The contemporary market of items for fishing is simply full of a variety of bait. There are a lot of producers of this type of items, each making every effort to produce their very own reliable and also cost-effective alternative, while the dish can consist of a wide variety of active ingredients.
Prikormki Dunaev in several regions are among the 3 leaders of selection as amateur anglers, and experts in this company.
Bream premium is thought about among the best feed feeding options for bream. In order not to trick on your own, you can buy a prefabricated completely dry mix of the Dunaev lure and blend it straight with the dirt from the reservoir or with any kind of porridge prepared in advance on the coast.
Bream costs reliable bait on bream, which has a black shade. It works in chilly and cozy water, but is not ideal for ice fishing. On the river it is utilized not just for capturing bream, other types of fish will try it with pleasure.
Bait Dunaev bream costs is made only from all-natural active ingredients, its make-up is as adheres to:
- bed linen;
- biscuit items;
The exact same bait on bream consists of natural and also artificial flavors, without which angling will not be successful.
The recipe of lure for bream from other makers will be different, the majority of produce food based on confectionery waste with the addition of natural dyes and flavors. Particularly prominent products with chocolate, cinnamon, sugar, peas. The lure on the bream throughout the autumn period ought to have a sharper odor, garlic as well as even krill are excellent.
The most effective bait for bream, made by hand in your home. As it ended up, it is easy to prepare lure for bream, and the products for this are not costly. After spending a fair bit of time and initiative, the angler will at some point get a fantastic option for driving to the feeder, which constantly operates in all weather conditions. What to contribute to the lure likewise discovered, to make sure that neither the tail neither the ranges!
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Don’t Have a Wind Management Plan? Here’s Why Your Event Needs One.January 31, 2022
The idea of a wind management plan may be completely new to you. Although wind management planning is an accepted part of the event planning process in other parts of the world, the standards for event safety here in Canada have not yet caught up to those of our international counterparts.
So, what is a wind management plan? Before we dive into the details, it’s important to understand why wind management plans exist and how they can protect the safety of your attendees.
Why Do I Need a Wind Management Plan?
Events exist to create positive experiences for people; they are meant to delight, engage, or educate attendees. However, the often-temporary nature of in-person events, as well as their typical format (large gatherings of people), means that they carry inherent risks for those same attendees.
As an event planner, you are responsible for identifying those risks to ensure the safety of your guests. While wind management planning may not be common practice in North America, other examples of risk assessment and mitigation are routine for most Canadian event organizers. Fire safety, crowd management, and emergency procedures should all be familiar concepts.
However, we often overlook the fact that wind can pose a risk to attendees and employees of outdoor events. Temporary outdoor events depend on temporary structures like stages, tents and fencing – all of which are susceptible to wind. At best, a flyaway tent is an inconvenience. At worst, it can pose a serious threat of injury or even death.
You might think that the odds of a temporary structure blowing over are slim, but the truth is that this is a common occurrence. We have seen portable toilets blow over at an outdoor show in Calgary. We have witnessed the tragedy of stages collapsing due to high winds in the United States and Brazil. And here at Modu-Loc, we are all too familiar with the negative impact of wind on our temporary fence panels.
It can take just one strong gust of wind to topple a temporary structure. For instance, consider that a basic line of 6’ high temporary fence might fail at wind gusts above 62 kilometres per hour (km/h). While that may sound like a high number, wind gusts can reach well above 62 km/h in many parts of Canada. The table below lists some major Canadian cities and indicates the number of months each city experienced winds of at least 62 km/h in the past year.
Source: https://www.weatherstats.ca/. Data accessed January 28, 2022.
As you can see, high winds are not uncommon in many Canadian cities where outdoor events take place. These wind gusts can create dangerous situations for your attendees and workers, so it’s crucial to have a wind management plan in place.
What is a Wind Management Plan?
A wind management plan seeks to identify the possible risks associated with wind, and outlines the proactive and reactive actions to take at each level of risk.
The key elements of a wind management plan include:
- Roles and responsibilities
- A plan or process for monitoring wind speed
- Wind velocities and potential risks at each threshold
- Actions to be taken at each threshold based on the risks identified
Tips for Creating a Wind Management Plan
Knowing where to start when designing your wind management plan can be tough. Below, you’ll find some tips to help you get started.
Create a List of Your Temporary Demountable Structures
To identify possible wind-related risks for your event, start by looking at the temporary demountable structures you’ll have on site. This is a term commonly used in the United Kingdom to refer to any structure that is designed to be quickly constructed and then dismantled after a short period of use. In Canada, they may be called “demountable event structures” or sometimes simply “temporary structures”.
Whatever you decide to call them, most outdoor events rely on demountable event structures. They include things like stages, tents, temporary fencing, and grandstands or bleachers.
Demountable structures are governed by provincial building codes. However, unlike permanent buildings, temporary demountable structures are not built for longevity. Their temporary nature makes them more susceptible to high winds and inclement weather.
For your wind management plan, document every demountable event structure you’ll have on site and then work with the suppliers of those structures to understand their wind ratings. Your supplier should be able to provide you with engineering drawings and wind test results for the structure.
Now that you have a list of temporary structures and their wind ratings, you can start to identify possible risks.
Use a Wind Velocity Scale to Identify Possible Risks
It’s likely that your wind management plan will be used by multiple people on your team, so it’s important to establish a standard for measuring wind severity.
The Beaufort scale is commonly used for wind management planning as it offers visual cues for different wind speeds. Here is the Beaufort scale with descriptions and associated wind speeds displayed in kilometres per hour:
Note that while the Beaufort scale reaches a force of 12, your wind management plan should account for a complete shutdown of event operations before winds ever reach that speed.
Whatever scale you decide to use, identify and document the potential risks at each level or rating. This is where you would reference the wind rating of each of your temporary demountable structures. You will also want to consider non-structural elements, like hanging decorations and suspended electrical wiring.
Two-Tier Warning System for Wind Management Planning
The Institution of Structural Engineers provides excellent guidance for wind management planning in their Temporary Demountable Structures guide. They recommend two levels of warning for each temporary structure based on how close wind speeds get to the wind gust rating for that structure.
The “Level 1” warning would occur when wind speeds reach 75% of the wind gust rating for the structure, provided there is “an increasing general trend of recorded wind speed”. This is when preventative action could be taken. For instance, if erection of the structure is in progress, you might decide to delay the build. At this level, event staff should be put on alert that further action may be required.
The “Level 2” warning is triggered when wind speeds reach 90% of the wind gust rating for the temporary structure – again, in conjunction with “an increasing trend in wind speed”. At this level, you would implement the actions prescribed in your wind management plan. For example, you may secure the site to prevent access.
Again, taking temporary fence as our example, this table shows the two alert levels for 6’ high fencing based on the wind gust rating of 62 km/h:
List the Recommended Actions at Each Wind Force Rating
Now that you have documented the risks for each temporary structure at different wind velocities, you can devise an action plan.
The actions recommended in your wind management plan are intended to eliminate or mitigate the wind-related risks you have identified. Here are some example of prescriptive actions you might include in your plan:
- Placing staff on alert
- Postponing construction of a temporary structure until wind speeds reduce
- Checking stakes, anchors and ballasts to ensure they are still in place
- Securing hanging fixtures against swinging
- Removing or securing anything that could become airborne
- Evacuating the area
You may consider having distinct plans for each phase of your event. For instance, a wind management plan for your “operational phase” (i.e. during the event) is likely to look different from the plan for your “build phase” (i.e. pre-event) or “teardown phase” (i.e. post-event). The people present on site and the risks involved may differ between phases, so be sure to take all stages into account.
Other Considerations for Wind Management
Once you’ve identified the wind speeds at which warnings should be triggered, you’ll need to decide how you will measure and monitor wind speeds. Typically, this would include monitoring weather forecasts for the area from the beginning of the construction phase all the way through teardown. Your wind management plan may also account for measuring wind speeds at the site using anemometers placed as close to the temporary demountable structures as possible. The anemometers should be checked regularly when wind speeds begin to approach the warning levels you’ve established.
You will also need to assign responsibility for the wind management plan. As you write your plan, try to answer the following questions:
- Who will monitor wind speeds?
- Who is responsible for alerting staff when winds approach potentially dangerous speeds?
- Which staff members need to be alerted?
- Who takes the actions prescribed in the plan? Does this change depending on the phase of the project (i.e. build versus operational)?
Prevention is Paramount
Finally, prioritize prevention. Prevention is the first step in managing any kind of risk, and it should receive the appropriate amount of attention in your wind management plan.
Consider having a documented standard for demountable event structures as they pertain to wind. This might include a standard for minimum wind gust ratings for any temporary structures. For instance, you might require all temporary fencing on site to be rated for wind gusts of at least 62 km/h, per our example. This provides clear guidelines for any event staff who are responsible for procuring temporary event structures.
You may also develop a policy that prevents the use of certain types of temporary structures if wind speeds are forecasted to exceed a pre-determined level. As an example, Santa Clara University prohibits the use of tents for outdoor events if wind speeds are forecasted to exceed a Beaufort force of 5.
You can work with your contractors and suppliers to take preventive measures that improve the stability of your temporary structures. There are likely simple things you can do to make your demountable structures less susceptible to wind gusts.
To illustrate, the below table shows how basic solutions like sandbags can increase the wind gust rating for a line of 6’ high temporary fence. It’s important to understand that wind ratings for temporary solutions should always be used as guidelines only, as the unique characteristics of your site may have an effect.
Note that this table reflects wind gust ratings for temporary fence with no hanging materials. The addition of any hanging materials – such as banners, screening, sound blankets or signs – will increase wind load and significantly reduce the wind gust rating.
Sample Wind Management Plan for Outdoor Events
We’ve developed a wind management plan template to help you get started. The template can function as a standalone plan, or be integrated into your existing event management plan. Click the button below to download the PDF template.
More Information About Wind Safety
Interested in knowing more? At Modu-Loc, we’re devoted to understanding the impact of wind on the safety and stability of our temporary fencing. The following blog posts are great resources on the subject:
We’re here to answer any questions you may have.
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FAITH NO MORE released their single 'I'M EASY' 26 years ago!
On December 29th 1992 Faith No More released their cover of the 1977 Commodores song Easy.The song is to this day their most successful selling single however amongst the fans it is possibly their most controversial.
"It feels really good to have couple of thousand people flipping you off. Just to see the number of middle fingers go up when we went into 'Easy' was amazing."
Love it or hate it the song helped them reach their highest UK chart position of number 3 and number 1 in Australia in 1992. The song reached out to a much wider audience, whether it was an audience FNM wished to reach out to is another question, but we can be sure the record company did.
So why did FNM chose to cover Easy? And why was it so successful; why did this slick and slightly tongue in check rendition sell more in the UK and Europe than their own unique brand of music?
FNM have been playing Easy in their live set since April 1990, the earliest record of it being played is at Rock City on April 25 1990. According to setlistfm.com the band have played it live 418 times and it is their third most played song after Epic and We Care A Lot. The band decided to add Easy to their set as a counter balance for their faithful version of War Pigs by Black Sabbath, which they had been playing to audiences since Chuck Mosley's days:
Bill Gould | Kerrang | 1995
"First off, we did it live. We used to do (Black Sabbath's) 'War Pigs', so the meat heads started coming just to hear us do that all the time, and Jim's chest was puffing out. He got to be Mr Black Sabbath, so we decided we wanted to do 'Easy' to fuck with people. We heard It on the radio and went, 'This is a great song, let's do it!''
It was during the recording sessions for Angel Dust that the band laid down a studio version originally to be released as a b side. However the record company decided to add it to later copies of the album and of course release it as double a side with Be Aggressive under the title I'm Easy.
Roddy Bottum | Kerrang | 1995
"Recording it was probably Billy's idea. Our fans would scream for 'War Pigs', but being the kind of band we are, never wanting to be pigeonholed, never wanting to give people what they expect, and as a way of balancing things up ... when people yelled for the cover song we gave them a different cover. The flip-side of the coin. Then because we liked how we played It and the way Mike sang it. we recorded It tor a B-side. Then the record company had a brilliant idea to put it out as an a-side: we made a really nice video."
Bill Gould | Billboard | 1993
"For our own personal satisfaction, we like to do things that are left field. Warner Bros. has been marketing us a a rock band; we like to think we're other things too. There was a little hesitancy to put the record out there, but it's just exploded. I think it might be our best hit."
Section from an interview in 1995 | Kerrang
Do you get any weird reactions from that? Have people come to the band from that single?
Roddy: 'Not really. I honestly don't think we got a lot of easy listening fans from that song! Maybe it's the video. Even though the execution of the song is pretty faithful you can see from the video that we're up to something. The tongue is definitely in the cheek'
Bill: 'I don't think we were ever gonna play it live again at that point, but we just happened to have it recorded. It wasn't a hit in the States, though. In fact, we were over there while it was a hit here, and it's only now that we've come back that it's managed to sink in: people keep saying to us, 'Well. your last big hit was 'Easy' '
Patton: 'It's a bit like stealing your own gun, then shooting yourself with it.'
Bill: 'Or stealing your gun and shooting somebody else with it!'
The coupling of these two songs is in itself a comical match due to the homoerotic sexual references of Roddy's lyrics of Be Aggressive and the story of a love sick Lionel Richie.
Was there any sense of irony in the FNM version? Were the band playing the song to provoke a reaction?
"The only ironic moment in that whole song is right before the guitar solo when Patton goes 'eww', which was a comment, not on the song, but on Jim Martin. Because there was such acrimony and tension between the band and him during the making of that record."
Bill Gould | Billboard | 1993
"It would be too obvious just to slag it. We like it in a painful kind of way. It gives the band memories of our childhood. We all grew up with it."
Mike Patton | Kerrang | 2009
'Usually we just do songs we like, so we have to do them sincerely. If we did a Commodores cover and chuckled at the end of it, it would make everyone else feel a lot more comfortable with it, but that's not the point of it at all. It's stuff we like and we deliberately put it in between two noisy songs to make people take a step back.'
The song was released under three titles: "I'm Easy", "I'm Easy (Cooler Version)", and "Easy". The title varies depending upon the region of release. Most European releases had the title "I'm Easy", whereas the rest of the world, including Scotland, received the release as simply "Easy". There are at least two, perhaps four, different mixes in circulation, all of which originate from the same studio recording of the song. The first mix has a voice-over by Mike Patton during the first few seconds of the song: "Turn the lights out, baby. This one's for the ladies in the house." The second version, sometimes listed as the "Cooler Version", lacks this intro but features a backing string arrangement throughout the song. A supposed third version has both the string arrangement and the spoken intro, while a fourth (and rarest) mix reportedly lacks both.
The 'first version' was featured on the releases:
"I'm Easy/Be Aggressive"
"Easy" (Japanese release)
Angel Dust (Japanese, European and Brazilian releases)
And the 'second version' was featured on the following releases:
Songs to Make Love To
Angel Dust (iTunes digital and Australian releases)
Easy had two different design packages. The US version featured the photo of two rhinos 'having fun' also used for the covers of Everything's Ruined and the EP Songs to Make Love to.The rest of the world were treated to a rather disturbing image of two young boys and a pistol a photograph by William Klein.
The Video mixes live footage from the Angel Dust tour and the band hanging out in a hotel with a bunch of transvestites and flamingos! (Funnily enough the second appearance of TVs in a FNM video the other being for We Care A Lot!)
The live footage also features a snippet of Mike Patton's infamous 'drinking piss from a tennis shoe incident' at Brixton Academy.
The video is opulent and indulgent; watching Patton throw luxury chocolates from a hotel balcony, Bill Gould swigging champagne from the bottle and Roddy Bottum crooning over a grand piano is nothing but classic FNM style.
Bill Gould | Billboard | March 1993
Bill Gould | Billboard | March 1993
"Of all the videos we've done, it probably has our personality the most'" Gould says, "people can find something sympathetic through a weird medium. It's almost touching that this transvestite is sitting there drinking champagne while Mike's singing."
If we look at the array of cover versions FNM have committed to vinyl we notice that majority seem to explore genres of music far from that of their own unique brand of music; jazz, pop, punk and soul; I Started A Joke, Spanish Eyes, This Guys In Love With You, I Wanna Fuck Myself. With the exception of a few particularly fantastic songs FNM generally make aggressive up tempo music, so these cover songs sit amongst their own compositions as a complete contrast.
At the time of Easy's release FNM fans heard the song differently than the general public, it was a bit of a joke, the band poking fun at the record industry and the rock genre like they had pulled off live. But we get a song such as Evidence on the very next album and She Loves Me Not on Album Of The Year, each flirting with the soul and pop genres. Years later we hear Mike Patton experimenting with soul and easy listening music. The Mike Patton we know now is adept to creating beautiful, soulful and sensitive laments with his Mondo Cane project and recent movie soundtracks, amongst others.
Mike Bordin is reported to be a huge collector of Jazz music. And of course Roddy's other band Imperial Teen are much more pop-like.The media had always cited Jim Martin as 'the rock influence' in FNM, he was the guy with the leather, beard and attitude, but this song was recorded and played in his time with the band and his contribution is essential to the song. A note perfect solo.
All this suggests FNM wanted to play songs like this from very early on but weren't sure how to place them on their albums amongst the rock genre they had been slotted into. The song Edge Of The World was there only nod towards lounge previous to Angel Dust. So maybe this cover of Easy was a way of doing that without alienating too many fans and testing the water for further song writing on their later albums? As to why Easy was so successful in Europe and Australia, I think the UK public in particular are suckers for a revamped golden oldie and a song that translates into karaoke!
But after all this discussion who actually cares? FNM and their record company might care about the money but we as fans don't give a monkey's how successful a song was in the charts, we care about the music. And personally I love their version of the song. I loved it back in 1990 when I first heard a live recording and I still love it as I write this. Although I would've loved a version of Sweet Dreams (The Nestlé song) equally as much......
Let me leave you with Lionel Richie's opinion on Faith No More EASY.....
"I was actually quite flattered that much about the song. Yes, I loved it."
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